The Puppet Master's Return
by Swissgal16
Summary: Sasori has been revived, along with the other members. But how? Sakura is being sent on a mission to infiltrate the Akatsuki by convincing them to let her join, so that she can find out who did this. But soon, things seem to take a different turn...
1. Return

**Well, this is my first Naruto fanfic I've started. So go easy on me!**

**I OWN NOTHING! Got that? Just the story idea...that does count...right? Ugh, whatever.**

**Sasori: Get on with the damn story. I hate waiting.**

**Sakura: Don't tell me THIS guy is gonna be coupled with me! I killed him for god's sake!**

**Swissgal16: Yeah, yeah, yeah...whatever! Just deal with it. Besides, it's my story, so whatever I say, GOES.**

**Sakura and Sasori: *Sigh* You're sad.**

**Swissgal16: I know...T_T. Haha, hope you guys enjoy the story though, I'll try updating as soon as I can. **

**Sorry if it's not great, I know that I'm not an amazing writer at all, but I try ^^ **

* * *

It was 08:00AM, and Sakura's alarm had just gone off. She groaned and turned over, slamming her fist upon the annoying alarm clock.

She then threw her covers over her head again, yawning as she thought about what had happened the previous night.

Team seven had been on a dangerous mission, trying to gain information on Akatsuki's whereabouts in the Hidden Mist village.

Apparently, two of the Akatsuki members had been spotted there, leading to a confrontation with the villagers there. Tsunade was informed about this soon after and had sent Team seven to go and investigate. By the time they got there, the Akatsuki were already gone. But after finding out from the villagers about which direction they had left, the four immediately went after them. Eventually, they came across Kisame and Itachi.

Naruto couldn't help but start yelling and threatening them about where Sasuke was, seeing as they were the last lead they had on Sasuke's whereabouts.

But it proved useless, and they then ended up battling it out. But after getting caught in Itachi's genjustu, they all had to retreat. Sakura wasn't badly injured, but Naruto was in a more serious condition, ending him up back in hospital.

"That idiot…our missions are failing too often because HE always has to get macho with the enemy…" she mumbled, getting out of bed.

She then got her uniform on, and quickly ran downstairs, having a quick breakfast before leaving the house. On her way there, she met up with Sai who was also heading to the Hokage's office to give Tsunade a full report about what had happened the previous night.

By the time they got there, Sakura knocked on the door waiting to be let in.

"Enter."

She then opened the door and they both walked up to the desk where Tsunade sat, bowing before speaking.

"Sakura, Sai…you're both here to give me a report, right?" The hokage said, resting her head on her hands.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Sakura replied.

"Well, forget that. I have a new mission for you."

Sakura arched her eyebrows at this, whereas Sai was as usual stoic, but they both listened intently.

"We have reason to believe that Akasuna no Sasori is alive…along with Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu."

Sakura's eyes widened at this, yelling, "What? Didn't we kill them? And wasn't it Sasuke who took Deidara down?"

Tsunade closed her eyes for a moment before replying, "You're correct. Sasori did die, but he has been revived. Along with the other members."

"What? By who?" Sakura asked questioningly.

Tsunade then sighed, saying, "We're not sure yet…but one of the ANBU reported seeing him with his old partner Deidara near the Village hidden in the rain. And another one of our shinobi spotted Hidan and Kakuzu not far off."

Sakura's face was filled with confusion and rubbed her forehead while grumbling.

"Great. So what do you need me and Sai to do then?" she asked.

"I need you to join Akatsuki." Tsunade answered.

Sai gave a slightly shocked face, not understanding what the Hokage was saying.

"Tsunade then said,

"I know it sounds crazy, but I think it's best that Naruto doesn't find out about this mission. I want you to go with Sai alone and convince the Akatsuki to let you both join. While you're there, I want you to find out about who it was that brought those members back to life. But also… Sasuke will definitely be going after Akatsuki in search of his brother, so by the time he gets there, you'll both be ready. You're a powerful kunoichi, Sakura. And Sai was part of the ANBU, so I have no doubt in my mind that you'll be strong enough to take him down. You can pretend that he was being a threat to the Akatsuki and keep him there until reinforcements are sent. I know that it's a complicated mission for just the two of you, but I have faith in you two."

Sakura nodded, understanding what Tsunade said.

"I see…so when should we set off?" she asked.

"I want you both to leave tomorrow. I'll tell Naruto that you're both going on a simple mission in escorting someone to the Village hidden in the rain. He won't make as much of a fuss if it doesn't sound like such an important mission…" Tsunade finished, sighing and leaning back in her chair. "I'm also going to give you each a booklet with all the information we've gathered on all the Akatsuki members. It has their biographies and everything there is to know about their abilities. So just go through it tonight and be prepared."

She then made Shizune give them both a blue booklet.

Sai went through it quickly and then asked, "How do we know if they'll accept us so easily?"

"You just need to somehow gain their trust. It's up to you both to find out how."

Sai and Sakura both nodded their heads, understanding what she meant.

"But be careful…the Akatsuki aren't easily fooled. So be on guard, especially you Sakura." She then said, giving her a serious look. But Sakura only blinked, confused with this.

"Why me?" she then asked Tsunade.

"Because now that Akasuna no Sasori is alive, he'll probably be after your head for killing him. Unless he's forgotten…but you'll just have to see."

Sakura gulped, remembering how powerful he was the last time she fought him. It made her skin crawl just thinking about it…all those human puppets...and especially him alone, since he had also turned himself into a puppet, which is what disgusted her the most.

"Alright, Lady Tsunade. We'll both do our best." She then said, sounding determined.

Tsunade smirked and let them both leave then, returning to her paperwork.

That evening…

"_Uchiha, Itachi. Born on the 9__th__ of June (21 Years old). Best fighting skills and abilities include Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Slaughtered entire Uchiha clan at the age of…13?"_ Sakura read, feeling slightly intimidated after reading through the Akatuski biographies. _"Hmmm…let's move on…"_

She flipped onto the next page and bit her lip when she read it. "_Akasuna no Sasori…born on the 8__th__ of November, 35 years old, but after turning himself into a puppet, he has the appearance of a 16 year-old boy. Lost his parents at an early age…began making puppets at the age of 5. Graduated from the academy at the age of 7…became a chuunin at the age of…8?"_

She continued to read his biography, both impressed and shocked as she finished. She then put the booklet down, lying back in her bed as she began thinking.

"So Sasori is alive…" she said softly. "And so are the other members…but how the hell am I supposed to complete this mission without being killed?"

She turned over on her side and thought back to the fight she had with him. He could have easily killed her at the very last moment, but hesitated and let Lady Chiyo make the last move.

"Maybe I can find out about why he did that…or ask him…wait, am I going crazy or something? This is the guy who managed to defeat The 3rd Kazekage! It's going to take a lot more than simply walking up to him and asking him about that. I need to gain his and all the other members' trust. God…at least Sai's coming with me." She then gave a relieved sigh and turned off her lamp, slowly drifting off to sleep.


	2. The encounter

**Yay! Chapter 2 at last! Go easy on me, I've still never written a proper Naruto fanfic before...but hope u guys like it anyway^^ **

**Sasori: You're still as annoying as ever.**

**Sakura: Tell me about it...she's always blabbering at the beginning of the story.**

**Swissgal16: ...but...I mean...look, WHATEVER! It's my story!**

**Sasori: Except for the fact that you don't own ANY of the characters. Face it, you're pathetic.**

**Swissgal16: ...I know...T_T...ugh, get on with the story damn it! **

Chapter 2: The encounter

Once again, it was 10:30 AM, and as usual, Sakura brought her fist down hard on what she thought was her alarm clock, but scoffed when she realized that she had already destroyed it the previous morning.

After spending the night reading all those files on the Akatsuki members, she had slept in a couple of hours, but that didn't matter.

She then sat up, grumbling as she got out of bed, and then paused, remembering that she had THE important mission today. So she then hurried up and got out of the house as soon as possible, leaving behind her headband.

She soon reached the front of the hospital, where she told Sai to meet her. And as usual, he sat there with his drawing book in hand as he quickly sketched something while leaning aginst a tree.

"Hey there Sai! What are you drawing?" she asked as she walked up to him.

He then gave her one of his fake smiles and showed her it.

Veins began popping all over her head when she realized it was a drawing of her.

Everything looked right, but her forehead was abnormally large and seemed to cover most of the page.

"What do you think?" he asked, still giving her that fake smile.

She clenched her fist and then punched him hard across the face, but scowled when she saw his body turn into ink.

"Where are you? Don't think I'll let you get away with that drawing!" she shouted, baring her teeth as she looked around. He then appeared behind her and said,

"I thought that it really brought out your feminity in the drawing, why is it that you hate it?"

She then disappeared and punched him from behind, managing to get a direct hit. He lay sprawled on the ground but slowly stood up while rubbing the back of his head.

He then pulled out a small book and paged through it.

"What did I do wrong?" he asked himself as he through his _**'How to be a good and honest friend'**_ guide.

Sakura rubbed her forehead in frustration and sighed, saying, "It's alright Sai. Let's just get going. Tsunade told us that a couple of Akatsuki members were heading past the Village hidden in the Rain. So I guess we better get going."

Sai then put his book away and nodded. They both left the village, coming up with strategies on the way as they stopped to rest every now and then.

After many tiring hours of travelling, they stopped to set up a small camp for the night in the middle of a forest. The sun had already gone down, and the sound of owls hooting could be heard all around them. It was beautiful night, and all the stars in the sky were surrounded by clouds, along with the moon which made everything look even more spectacular.

When the fire was lit, and the tent set up, Sakura quickly went behind a large bush to change her dirty clothes into cleaner ones.

After she went back, they both sat down to eat some of the take-away ramen they had brought along.

"I feel bad for Naruto…I hate keeping secrets from him." Sakura then said sadly.

Sai continued to eat his own food, stopping for a moment and replying, "Me too. But this is what Lady Tsunade wants. Besides, it's best if he just gets better in that hospital without worrying about us."

"I guess so. But I still don't know how we'll be able to complete this mission on our own… I mean, it's Akatsuki we're going up against! And plus-" she was then suddenly cut off when Sai appeared behind her, covering her mouth.

"We're being watched." He whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened at this, and when he took his hand away from her mouth, she slowly stood up while looking around the area, searching for any movement. She then pulled down on her gloves and mouthed some words to Sai. He nodded and then stepped back as she prepared to slam her fist into the ground.

The forest shook from the tremendous force put into her punch, and after doing so, she heard someone scream underneath all the rubble. She smirked and then ran forward, jumping over the large mounds of earth until she reached the spot.

She looked underneath a large rock that stuck out from the ground, but gasped when she saw who it was.

Deidara.

His body was mangled and his arms and legs were potioned in places never thought possible for a human. He was breathing heavily and slowly lifted up his head to look at her.

"I-I g-guess that's what I get for peeking when a g-girl changes, yeah." He said in a hoarse voice.

She clenched her teeth, trying to prevent the veins on her head from showing. But then bent down and tried helping him up, even though she would have rather punched him again...

"Are you okay?" she asked, helping him sit up.

Sai then showed up behind her, surprised when he saw the Akatsuki member there. But this meant that they had an opportunity as well.

"I think so, yeah." Deidara said, cracking his back as he straightened up.

"What are you doing here?" she then asked.

Deidara then paused, moving his face closer to hers as he tried getting a good look at her. She arched an eyebrow as he did this, and tried not to give him an irritated look.

He then jumped up and shouted while pointing at her, "You're that girl who killed Sasori no Danna!"

She widened her eyes a bit but then calmly asked, "Wasn't he brought back to life again…like you were?"

Deidara was about to say something else, but stopped and began grinning.

Sakura gave him a confused look and then noticed that he was no longer looking in her direction. She then felt warm breath on the back of her neck, making her gasp slightly.

"So it is you…Haruno Sakura." She heard a deep voice say behind her. Her eyes were wide and filled with fear when she recognised the voice, and snapped her head behind her, standing face to face with the man she killed a year ago.

Akasuna no Sasori.

Her mouth quivered as she tried to utter out words, but then noticed that Sai was no longer at her side.

Sasori smirked slightly, saying, "Don't worry, your friend will live."

"What did you do to him?" she asked fiercly, trying to sound confident.

"Hehe, I just knocked him out, yeah. But he'll be okay." She heard Deidara say in a bored tone as he stood right behind her.

Sasori's eyes were still locked with hers, making her shudder slightly. She tried to step back, but then bumped into Deidara who held a large grin on his face.

"What do you want?" she then asked Sasori.

Sasori merely smiled and replied, "I was actually coming over here to congratulate you for managing to crush my partner," Deidara scoffed at his statement. "but that is until I realized who you actually were…"

Sakura then took a deep breath and asked, "So what are you going to do now? Kill me?"

Sasori huffed and then took a step back, saying, "Believe me, there's nothing better that I'd rather be doing right now. But I'm a little busy, and you know how much I hate to keep others waiting."

He then walked past her, motioning Deidara to follow him, but growled when his partner didn't listen.

"So are you single, yeah?" Deidara asked her. Sasori frowned and continued walking away from the area.

Sakura's fingers twitched, ready to strangle the man after asking her that.

She then looked down to see Sai's motionless body on the ground, suddenly feeling worried about her friend, but then remembered the mission they both had, and decided to take the opportunity.

She ran past Deidara and caught up with Sasori. "Wait!" she called.

He paused in his steps and turned to her, giving her a very irritated look. She just ignored it and then said in a serious tone, "I want to join Akatsuki."

Sasori's eyebrow arched at her statement, but then smirked, asking, "And why is that,?"

She then sighed and replied while clenching her fist, "I want revenge on the Leaf Village. I hate all the laws they have now, and everything that they stand for. Nobody recognised me as a strong kunoichi, so I could care less if they were all killed at once."

"Is that so?" he said.

"I want to join the Akatsuki so that I can prove them all wrong. And…after hearing that you were alive…" Sasori's expression hardened slightly at this. "I wanted to make amends with you." She finished, smiling slightly at him as her eyes bore into his.

His face then softened a bit, but he wasn't exactly sure how to know whether or not she was just lying or really being honest.

But before he could answer, Deidara was right next to him and jumping up and down while shouting, "Sasori no Danna, let's let her join! We NEED more girls around, yeah!"

Sasori scowled at his partner's behaviour and hit him hard down on the head. He then looked back at Sakura, who seemed to be giggling at the two of them.

"I don't know what exactly it is that you're planning, kunoichi…but I will allow you to tag along anyway, seeing as I can't stand being in the presence of an idiot who thinks true art only lasts for mere seconds." She nodded at this, smiling slightly.

"I'm not the one who makes the decisions about who joins our organization though. That, you must discuss with Pein when we get there. But if you try anything on our way there, I won't hesitate to kill you. And if you DO happen to be accepted as one of us, but end up being a traitor, as I expect you to be…then I will be the one having the pleasure in turning you into one of my…creations." He said in a deathly tone, smirking when she gulped.

Sakura then let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding in, and the three then began walking, with the two men on either side of her. But she then made them halt and said,

"Wait a minute…I forgot all about Sai!"

She smacked her head, cursing as she ran back to find her still unconscious comrade. Sasori was slightly amused by this and waited quietly for her with Deidara.

"This is gonna be interesting, yeah." Deidara said with a smirk.


	3. Acceptance

**Sai: You forgot me...**

**Sakura: Look, I said sorry already!**

**Sai: It says in my book that true friends never forget one another...**

**Sakura: *sweat drops* **

**Sasori: That's not the case, apparently...**

**Sakura: What are you doing here?**

**Sasori: Sight-seeing, what do you think? I'm one of the main characters of this story, baka.**

**Sakura: More like one of the main jerks of the story.**

**Swissgal16: Calm down everybody, let's just take a moment and rela-**

**Sasori/Sakura/Sai: SHUT UP! **

**Swissgal16: T_T**

Chapter 3: Acceptance

"Hey, Sasori no Danna!" Deidara called as he lagged behind him and Sakura.

"What?"

"Why the hell do I have to carry this guy, yeah?" he demanded, trying to find a better way of carrying Sai. He eventually heaved a sigh and just carried Sai bridal style, but tried looking manly at the same time, which failed seeing as Sakura couldn't stop laughing then.

Sasori watched her for a bit as she giggled at Deidara and Sai, but then replied back, "You could always use one of those things you call 'art', to fly ahead of us, baka."

Deidara gave him a confused look, suddenly feeling stupid for carrying the guy the wholetime instead of flying ahead.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier, yeah!"

"Because I enjoy seeing you make a fool of yourself." Sasori said bluntly, making Sakura giggle again.

Deidara smirked, putting Sai down and doing several hand signs before a large clay bird appeared. He then threw Sai onto it, and climbed on himself. Sakura stared at the bird in awe. Deidara noticed this and said proudly, "This is one of my best creations, yeah. I'll show you some of my others when you're accepted in the organization." Sakura smiled at this, saying, "I'd like that."

Sasori grunted, staring at the clay bird like as if it was the most repulsive thing he'd ever seen. He then looked at Sakura, who was still observing Deidara's 'art'. He growled slightly, saying, "You call that thing art? More like a children's piece of play-dough. Art is something that lasts forever…" he finished, looking away.

Deidara scoffed and then said, "Whatever you say Sasori no Danna…well, ja ne!"

As he flew away, he quickly blew Sakura a kiss, making her turn red in the face, but she waved back anyways.

She and Sasori then continued to walk together in silence as they reached the end of the forest.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, trying to figure out a way to start a conversation…

"You know…" she started. He looked back at her as she spoke. "My comrade, Sai also happens to be an artist..."

"Really..?" he asked, slightly curious.

'Yeah, he often paints and draws. He's quite good actually, I mean, I just think that maybe you two might be able to get along better…seeing as you and Deidara are always…arguing." she said, feeling slightly nervous when he continued to stare at her.

"I see. But I'm not interested in making friends at the moment." He said blandly, looking forward again as they continued to walk in silence again.

She sighed a bit, but then just looked forwards, gasping when she saw how beautiul the sunrise looked.

"Wow…" she said under her breath. The clouds were pink and orange, surrounding the red sun in the sky, making it look just like a painting. She then smiled saying, "I may not be an artist, but I know art when I see it."

Sasori arched his eyebrows at her comment looking up as well.

He couldn't deny it, the sky really did look amazing at that moment. He then looked back at the kunoichi who was still smiling at the sight, and began wondering, _"Why is she so…?"_

But he then stopped in his steps and held her hand, stopping her as well while whispering, "Don't move."

It took her a moment to understand what he meant, but then nodded, sensing someone's chakra nearby. It definitely wasn't someone she knew, so she then began gathering all her chakra in her fists, ready for an attack.

She was about to turn around, but shrieked when Sasori pushed her down, lying on top of her. She was about to start swearing at him when she saw a long dagger sticking through the tree she was standing in front of before. Sasori glared at her, whispering for her to stay low.

But just as he got off of her, her eyes widened, noticing something about his body…it was warm. And she could feel…his heartbeat?

"_What…?" _she thought as his body left hers.

But she then looked back up, seeing him do several hand signs, making one of his puppets appear. He carefully examined the area around him, trying to find the attacker.

He then smirked and with the twitch of his fingers, the puppet went upwards in a matter of seconds, releasing thousands of poisoned needles from it's wooden body and around the area underneath it.

Not long after that, a scream could be heard among one of the bushes. Sasori then casually walked up to it, seeing a man wearing a mask lying on the ground while crying out for help. Hundreds of needles were embedded in his body, and a pool of blood began forming underneath his body.

"Pathetic." Sasori said, walking away and leaving the man to get finished off by the poison.

Sakura had watched the whole scene and her fear of the puppet master soon returned. She shook slightly, remembering how deadly he was. He truly was a merciless killer, which meant that she had to be on her toes if she was to gain his trust.

She soon got lost in her own thoughts, and didn't notice him nearing her until stood right in front of her.

"Don't be as careless the next time." He said harshly, making her jump slightly when she saw him.

She slowly stood up and followed behind him as he walked away again, and after a few moments she looked up at him, giving him a sincere smile and saying, "Thank you for saving me, Sasori."

His eyes widened slightly at this, but he then huffed, saying, "It's not uncommon for someone to be coming after me. But I was surprised when that man actually tried attacking you instead."

Sakura was also curious about this, but then began thinking back to when he was on top of her.

"Sasori…"

"Yes?" he answered.

"When you were on top of me, I could…well, I could feel a heartbeat in your body." She said, gving him a questioning look.

He arched his eyebrow but smirked slightly, saying, "So you noticed?"

She nodded at this waiting for him to continue.

"When I was brought back to life, I was given a human body instead of my wooden one. I was apalled at first, but I soon got used to this body. But because I'm human again, it means that I can…feel emotions as well…but I'm not sure how to deal with them." He finished.

She gave him a questionable look but let her face soften, saying, "Having emotions isn't always great, but it means that you can experience new feelings."

"Such as…?" he asked.

She then put her finger on her chin, thinking about what she could use as an example.

"Well, for example, love I guess."

"And what does one do with 'love'?" he asked curiously.

"Hmmm…well if you happen to love someone for example, then you show that love to one another by maybe kissing, hugging or just being kind to one another." She answered, not really sure if she explained it well enough.

"I see…" he said, looking away from her. "And what about other feelings?"

"Erm, well there's…hate, I suppose. Which is what one feels when they despise one another instead." She said.

He then sighed and replied in a bored tone, "I already know that feeling well enough."

Sakura then looked away, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"Show me how one does those things you mentioned before…like 'kissing' was it?"

Her mouth dropped slightly, giving him a puzzled look and asking, "You don't know what a kiss is?"

He shook his head saying, "Well, considering I haven't experienced feelings and emotions in twenty years, I certainly don't believe I could remember now."

She nodded, feeling silly for asking such a stupid question.

"Now show me." He said, stopping and turning to face her with a serious expression on his face.

"What? you mean now?" she questioned, feeling nervous again.

"Yes, I won't repeat myself."

She huffed at this, and then took a step forward, glaring at him straight in the eye.

"Fine." She said.

She then stood on her toes and moved closer to his face.

Sasori's facial expression soon became twisted, not understanding what she was doing, but before he could back away, he felt her lips lightly pressing against his own.

They were soft and warm, making his face heat up from the action.

She was about to break away when he suddenly kissed back. She gasped slightly at his sudden action, but didn't try moving away from him.

She was surprised when she realized how warm his lips were, and began blushing when he stepped back.

His face was slightly red, but he soon regained his composure. She then began muttering, "I-erm, I hope I didn't startle you at first…"

He then smirked and said, "No…it wasn't actually as bad as I'd thought it would be. Thank you for showing me."

He then carried on walking again, leaving her frozen on the spot.

"_Did he actually thank me for something…?" _she thought,quickly catching up with him again.

After several minutes, they arrived in front of a very large cliff next to a river.

"We're here." He said, looking around to make sure no one was watching.

He then did several hand signs and put his hand on the ground.

The earth suddenly shook and an entrance appeared on the front side of the cliff, making Sakura gasp. They then walked up to it and entered through the doors. But just as they came in, the Akatsuki member Sakura remembered as Hidan suddenly appeared.

"You asshole! you promised me that you'd bring back my fucking arm from the damn Forest of Death!" he shouted at Sasori, who was as stoic as ever.

Sakura looked down at his body to see that he was indeed missing an arm…

Hidan's teech were clenched as he got ready to start ranting on again, but paused when he noticed the kunoichi next to him.

"What the fuck? Ugh, here, I'll knock the bitch out for ya." He said, disappearing suddenly. Sasori's eyes widened at this, but it was already too late.

Everything was slowly turning black as Sakura fell down, but soon felt someone catch her before she hit the ground.

"You idiot! She's here to join the Akatsuki!" Sasori growled at Hidan.

"Wait…so I shouldn't have knocked her out then?" Hidan asked, scratching his chin in confusement.


	4. Nightmares and chips

**Some of you might find the title of this chapter a little weird, but you'll see why used it instead of some 'fancy' title. ^**

**Sasori: A 'fancy' title would certainly be more interesting than the one you chose...**

**Sakura: Agreed...**

**Swissgal16: Why the hell does everyone pick on me the whole time?**

** *silence*...**

**Whatever, PS. I don't own any of these characters! Sadly...T_T**

Chapter 4: Nightmares and Chips

"Hidan, you damn idiot!" Deidara shouted, strangling Hidan by the neck after hearing about what he did to Sakura.

"She's supposed to join us, damn it! And you just HAD to knock her out?" he continued shouting.

"What the fuck? No one ever told me that another bitch was going to join us!" Hidan began ranting, trying to get Deidara to letgo of his neck with his only hand.

"What the hell do you mean by, 'another bitch'?" Deidara said, veins popping on his head as he clenched his teeth.

Hidan smirked at this, getting ready to antagonize Deidara again until Sasori suddenly appeared in front of them.

He frowned at them both, saying, "Shut up, both of you. She'll wake up if you carry on with this meaningless argument."

He finished, looking back at the sleeping Sakura.

Hidan and Deidara then shut their mouths, shivering when Sasori glared at them.

Deidara then let go of Hidan and went to sit next to Sakura's bed.

Hidan just mumbled and left to go and do one if his rituals again.

* * *

_It was dark._

_She was standing in the middle of nowhere._

"_Where…am I?" Sakura asked herself as she tried to find a way out of the darkness._

_She walked around and stopped when she saw a small light ahead of her. She followed it and soon found herself in the middle of a large crater. _

_She looked around it and gasped when she saw hundreds of dead bodies surrounding her. They were covered in blood, but that wasn't what frightened her the most..._

_When she got a closer look at them, she realized that they were the bodies of all her friends._

_Naruto, Ino, Hinata, Sai, Lee, Tenten…everyone…_

_Her lip quivered and she began screaming, gripping her hair as she fell to her knees. _

"_Th-this can't be happening!" she cried out. _

_She then shakily reached out towards naruto's body in front of her. _

_But she shrieked when her finger was pricked by what seemed to be a long,__sharp needle sticking out of his back._

"_W-what is that?" she asked herself._

"_**Sakura Haruno…" **__she then heard a deep voice say._

_She looked frantically around calling out, "Who's there? Show yourself!"_

_But what she didn't notice was a dark figure looming over her from behind._

_Her eyes widened and she whipped her head behind her and stared at the tall dark figure in front of her._

_The figure was wearing a long brown, blood stained cloak with a hood covering his eyes._

_ Swords were sticking out of his body and he was holding a long dagger in his right hand._

"_Who are you?" she asked shakily, quickly standing up and trying to take a step backwards. But something held onto her from behind. _

_She looked back and saw a bloody-faced Naruto holding onto her shoulders. She screamed, trying to get away,but failed to do so when his grip on her tightened._

_Her face was filled with fear and dread as the figure in front of her then came nearer, holding the dagger to her neck._

"_**Sakura…I want you to show me the meaning of love again…" **__the figure said darkly, taking his hood off slowly._

_Her eyes widened and her skin crawled at this. _

_It was Sasori in his old puppet body again. _

"_S-Sasori…" she whispered. "Y-you did this?"_

_His eyes held no emotion and he just continued to push the dagger against her skin, letting a few drops of blood fall down from her neck. _

_She grimaced at this, and began crying_.

_He smirked at her and then moved his face towards hers, crashing his mouth down hard onto hers. She continued to sob as he kissed her._

_His lips were cold and hard, making wince._

_He then stepped away from her giving her a sadistic grin and holding the dagger up again._

"_**I'll always be here to haunt you." **__He whispered, plunging the dagger into her stomach as she screamed._

_

* * *

_

"NO!" Sakura shouted as she woke up. She was now sitting bolt upright, breathing heavily as she gripped onto the bed sheets.

Sasori and Deidara had fallen asleep next to her as they waited for her to wake up, and jumped when they heard her shout.

Sasori stood up and walked towards her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She whipped her head around and gasped when she saw him.

"Sasori…?" she whispered.

He nodded and sat down onto the bed beside her. "You'll have to excuse Hidan's actions from earlier. He tends to do things irrationally…but I'm surprised at how long you've been out."

She stopped shaking as he spoke to her and sighed, thinking, _"So it was only a nightmare…" _

Deidara then snuck up behind her bed and tapped her on the shoulder, but she immediately reacted on instinct and punched him in the stomach from behind her.

Sasori arched his eyebrow at this but he then began smirking when he saw his partner once again, lying on the ground with his body twisted in different positions. Sakura put her fist down and gasped when she saw him on the ground.

"Oops…sorry about that Deidara!" she apologized, smiling weakly as she went over to try and help him up again.

"I'll live…yeah." He answered in a hoarse voice, trembling as he got back on his feet.

She looked over his body and started applying chakra into her hands, going over his arms, which seemed to be slightly fractured.

He watched in awe, grinning when he could feel his arms healing.

She then stopped and sat back onto the bed, wiping her head with the back of her hand.

"Phew…your arms should be fine now. But be careful about trying to scare me like that…"

Sasori had been watching the whole thing and was quite impressed with how fast she had managed to heal Deidara's arms.

But he remained as stoic as ever.

She then looked back at Sasori and said, "So…where's Sai?"

"Who?" Sasori asked, giving her a puzzled look.

She groaned and said, "My partner…?"

"Oh! I stuck him on the couch in the big living room, yeah." Deidara answered then, motioning for her to follow him.

"Living room…" she said under her breath, looking around the room they were in now. It was quite large and the walls were all stone. And for some reason a large table with chairs around it stood in the middle.

"This is the meeting room, yeah." Deidara suddenly said. "We all come in here to discuss important stuff like new missions." He finished.

She nodded at this, and soon noticed that Sasori was walking by her side.

Deidara then stopped in front of what seemed to be a single large door and slowly pushed it open. She then walked through it with the two of them and saw that they were in the middle of a long hallway with many doors on the sides.

Deidara carried on walking until the end of the hallway, which took several minutes since it was so long.

At the end of it was a pair of doors, and he then pushed them open as well.

Sakura followed after him with Sasori behind and gasped at the sight. It was a big room with several large couches that stood around what seemed to be a big television.

On the couches, sat all of the Akatsuki members, staring at the screen. And on the middle couch sat Sai, between Hidan and Kakuzu. He had a large bag of chips in his hands and was eating away at them as he leaned forward, staring at the screen like all the other men.

Sakura sweat-dropped at this, thinking, _"Men are all the same…" _

She walked behind the couch he was sitting in, seeing that he didn't even notice her, and looked up at the screen of the TV.

Sasori and Deidara sat on one of the other couches and began watching as well.

Sasori then sighed saying, "Do we always have to watch this crap?"

Tobi, who was next to him and Deidara jumped up saying, "It's not crap Sasori no Danna! It's…beautiful…" he finished, wiping off an invisible tear from his mask.

"_No Emily…you know that I love you, but we can't go on like this!" _A male character said in the TV show they were all watching. _"Which is why…I must leave you!"_

Sai and all the Akatsuki members, apart from Sasori, Itachi and Kakuzu gasped at this.

Sakura continued observing the men as they watched the program, not believing for a moment that these men were actually a part of the dangerous and merciless Akatsuki organization she knew of.

Sai heard her sigh and then looked behind, giving her fake smile while holding out the packet of chips to her.

"Want some, Sakura-chan?"


	5. Settling in

**Okay, I KNOW that it's been a while since I updated, but I hope none of you are too pissed with me...it's just that school started and we all know what that means...**

**Sasori: You get lazy...?**

**Swissgal16: NO!**

**Sakura: You forget to update?**

**Swissgal16: NO!**

**Deidara: I know, yeah! You're too busy to write!**

**Swissgal16: EXACTLY! Thank you Deidara.**

**Deidara: No problem, yeah.**

**Sasori: You're still weird.**

**Swissgal16: I know...T_T **

Chapter 5: Settling in.

Sakura couldn't stop staring as Sai and the Akatsuki watched a soap together.

"If only Naruto was here to see this…" she said under her breath.

But all of a sudden, all the men turned to look in her direction, having puzzled looks on their faces as they stared at her.

"Erm…hello?" she managed to utter, confused as they continued to stare at her.

"Who's she?" Kakuzu asked.

Sai then spoke up, standing by her side, saying, "She's my partner, Sakura Haruno."

"Yay! So she's joining us as well?" Tobi asked, jumping up and hugging her.

"Yes, but I wouldn't do that if I were-" Sai was then cut off when Sakura 'accidently' punched Tobi across the room. All the men stared in wonder, but then began laughing.

"Oh! Sorry about that Tobi!" she said, rushing over to help him up.

He just laughed as well, and said, "That's okay, Sakura-chan! Deidara sempai did that to me the first time I met him too…just not as hard!"

She then smiled and giggled a bit, looking back to see Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu and Deidara surrounding her.

"Are you really going to be joining us?" Kakuzu asked.

"Are you still single, yeah?" Deidara asked while grinning.

"You know that I was just joking around when I knocked you out, right?" Hidan said, trying to sound innocent.

"Do you like fish?" Kisame asked.

Sakura tried to prevent herself from knocking them all out at once but then looked back when someone took her hand from behind.

"Come. Pain is waiting for you both in the meeting room. You and your friend can then discuss joining us with him." Sasori said, leading her away from the other men. She blushed slightly, but then called Sai over. He then got up from the couch and followed behind her.

"Man, why does Sasori no Danna get to have all the fun, yeah?" Deidara complained, going back to lie down on the couch.

Itachi had just been watching them all, not sure about what to think about Sakura. He knew that she couldn't be trusted, but then again, she could have a good reason for wanting to join them. He just wasn't sure.

Meanwhile… 

Sasori had continued to lead them both through the hallway, and when they eventually reached the end of it, he opened the large doors and made them sit at the end of the meeting room's large table. He then sat by Sakura's side, looking on ahead with a serious expression.

She curiously looked forward as well, and widened her eyes slightly when two dark figures appeared in the seats at the end of the large table.

"Sasori…so these are the two ninjas who left their comfortable village to come and join us…you say?" The one figure asked.

"Yes. After our mission in finding Hidan's arm became unsuccessful, Deidara and I came across these two." He answered.

Sakura then looked a bit closer and could indeed see Pain's figure sitting there. Along with the woman who always stayed by his side, Konan.

"Well, then. Tell me your reasons for joining us, Sakura and Sai."

Sakura then took a deep breath and explained her story to him just as when she explained it to Sasori in the forest. Her tone was serious as she told him their story and showed no signs of lying at all, but as she spoke, she then noticed that Sasori was staring at her the whole time, making her feel a bit nervous, but she carried on anyways.

When she was finished, Pain nodded, and then said, "I see…so you're both missing nin, and you wish to join us in order to gain power and revenge upon the Leaf Village...?"

Sai and Sakura both nodded then.

"Alright. Well then, I would firstly like to know about both of your…abilities as ninjas."

Sai then spoke up and replied, saying, "I am able to bring paintings and drawings to life by using my chakra alone. It's both an ability useful in combat and defence."

Pain nodded in approval and then looked at Sakura, asking, "And what about you, kunoichi?"

Sakura then answered back, "I learned all of my abilities from the 5th Hokage herself. I specialize in being a Ninja Medic, and I also have enough power to destroy an entired building by using my fists alone."

Pain's eyes widened slightly at this and asked, "You mean, as in…super strength?"

"Well, yes."

"Show me." He then said.

She gave him a confused look and asked, "You mean now?"

He nodded, standing up and leading them outside.

Sasori followed behind, slightly interested in seeing if the Kunoichi's strength had improved in the last year.

Pain then pointed at the other side of the river that was flowing nearby.

She then nodded and walked over there, jumping over the river, while mustering up all the chakra she had into her fists. She then jumped upwards and landed with her fists hitting the ground at full-force.

The ground around Pain, Sai, Konan and Sasori began to shake tremendously. And even some of the other Akatsuki members had come out to see what was happening.

The ground then began cracking everywhere and boulders were flying, along with several trees which were then uprooted. She jumped backwards and watched as the cracking ground formed a large crater from where she had stood.

She then grinned as the ground began to finally settle, and looked back to see everyone staring in awe and amazement. She then walked back towards them and asked, "Was that okay?"

Pain then smirked slightly, saying, "Welcome to the Organization."

Deidara, Tobi and Hidan began cheering, and even Itachi, who had come to watch everything as well, was smirking.

"_She really is powerful…" _he thought.

Sasori remained stoic, but inside, he was impressed with how strong she was.

Sai then went up to Sakura and said while smiling, "That was amazing, Sakura-chan."

She returned his smile with a grin saying, "We're in though Sai! We made it into the Akatsuki!"

Pain then interrupted, saying, "Although you are now members of our organization, I still feel slightly unsure about you both. Which is why I want you both to know, that if either of you are indeed planning something, and I find out, then I will execute you both myself."

Sakura gulped a bit, but then replied, "We understand."

"But to keep an eye on you both, I want Sai to share Deidara's room, and Sakura to share Sasori's room. That way, you'll both be under observation by the other two." Pain added, walking back towards the entrance.

Sakura's eyes widened after his statement and said outloud, "I have to share a room with Sasori?"

Sasori had also been surprised with the new arrangements, but then turned and said to her, "I'm afraid that's what Pain wants. Don't think that it'll be fun for me either, but just stay out of my way while I'm working."

He then left and followed the others back inside.

She groaned and slowly caught up with them after a few moments, thinking, _"Sharing a room with a mass-murderer who was just brought back to life, WASN'T part of my mission, damn it!"_


	6. Disagreements

**Lord, I finally finished this chapter! I don't know why, **

**but this one was just harder to write than the others. But I'm sure you'll like it! **

**PS. I posted up a short halloween story with saso/saku in it, called, **

**'Halloween with the Akatsuki.'**

**Not sure about what you guys will think about it, but I just wrote it for fun. PLUS no one EVER writes proper Halloween stories with this couple in it!**

**Sasori: It doesn't mean you're any good.**

**Swissgal16: HA! Have you been reading the reviews I'm getting for this story! **

**What makes you think they'll ****hate my halloween story?**

**Sasori: It isn't scary.**

**Swissgal16: T_T whatever. Anyways, I just wanted to also thank everyone for reviewing this story!**

** And I hope you all enjoy this chapter^^**

Chapter 6: Disagreements

"Here are your Akatsuki coats. You can choose whether or not you both want to wear them while you're here,

but it is required that you always wear them during missions." Konan said, handing over two cloaks to both Sakura and Sai.

"Right." They both said.

But before Konan left, she said, "You may both go to your current rooms now. We'll call you when there's an important mission, but for now, try to settle in."

She finished, and after several seconds, her entire body turned into hundreds of papers, drifting out of the meeting room.

Sakura watched as she left and then smirked, saying, "Things are going well."

Sai nodded and they both turned while heading for the door on the right side. They opened it and started walking down the hallway.

Like before it was huge, and there were many doors on either side of it. Sai then stopped and looked at the door on the left that had the number 3 on it. He then put his ear to it and listened.

"What are you-" Sakura was cut off when they both heard a loud explosion coming from inside the room, making them jump.

Sai then regained his composure and gave her a fake smile while saying, "This is Deidara's room. I'll see you later Sakura-chan, and good luck."

She then nodded with a slight smile but her inner-Sakura then began ranting, while saying,

"_If that blonde guy blows up Sai, we're both screwed!" _

She then watched as he entered the room.

"Hello Deidara." Sai said. Sakura peeked over his shoulder and saw that the room was enormous and there seemed to be several huge holes in the ground.

"Oh, hey there Sai! Whatcha think of my new artwork, yeah?" She heard Deidara say. She then shook her head and continued walking down the hallway.

"Fuck you Kakuzu!" she suddenly heard through one of the rooms. She started to speed up and began ducking when daggers and kunais were being thrown out of the doors and towards the others.

"_What the hell?"_ she thought as she began running. It was literally like a madhouse, and before she knew it, she had finally reached the end of the hallway and looked at both doors on either side of it. She then remembered that the room number she was looking for was supposed to be number 9.

Before she then entered the door on the right which indeed had number 9 on it, she was suddenly startled when she heard the other door open behind her.

She turned and saw Itachi coming out of it.

When he stepped out he just stared at her for a moment and said, "I'd be careful if I were you, little girl. Sasori isn't the type of man who enjoys company of others, let alone the fact that you're the one who killed him."

Her eyes bored into his own and she then replied with a powerful tone, "Thank you for your advice, but I think that I can handle him." His eyes widened slightly with amusement flickering through them and just said while turning away, "Joining the Akatsuki will not bring you any closer to finding my little brother. It will only bring you closer to your death."

Sakura's eyes widened at this and watched as he walked away, not sure about what to make of his last statement.

"_So that bastard figured us out already, eh? Well, hopefully he won't rat on us."_ Her inner-Sakura said.

Sakura then just began rubbing her forehead and turned back to the door on the right. "Room number 9…this is it." She said to herself and then reached out slowly for the door knob, trembling slightly as she though back to Itachi's words.

She then turned it and opened the door, taking a deep breath.

As she entered, she couldn't see Sasori around but noticed that like the other rooms, this one was quite large.

But the layout was pretty simple.

There was a large dark red carpet in the middle of it, a big desk up ahead, which had several puppets on top of it.

There was a black couch on the right side against the wall, and a large bed, with dark red duvets on it, which stood on the left with an open window next to it. She could also see a door which probably led to a bathroom, stood on the right sidel.

The sound of someone showering in there could be heard, so she slowly walked inside while closing the door behind her and gazed at everything.

It all looked simple, and yet gorgeous at the same time. She then look back to the bed to see a small bookshelf next to it, along with a tall silver lamp on a little table next to it.

"Wow…" she uttered. She then put her rucksack on the sofa and walked around some more. She first went over to the bookshelf, curious about what things Sasori read and went through some of them.

"The art of puppetry…Controlling chakra through fingers…Murder stories…and…The way the human mind works…" she smiled as she flicked through the pages, surprised when she saw that some of the books he had were the same as the ones she had back at home, except for the murder books of course…

"Getting comfortable, I see…?" she heard a voice say. She gasped slightly and put the book down quickly while turning to face him.

But before she could stop herself as she quickly turned around, she immediately bumped into him. His body wet from head to toe, and was only wearing a towel around his waist, looking down at her with an arched eyebrow.

"_Hell yeah! I could get used to sharing a room with this guy!" _Inner-Sakura shouted on the inside.

She then looked up at him with widened eyes and a pink tinge began to show on her cheeks. He gave her a slightly confused look but soon showed amusement glittering in his eyes.

"Erm..sorry." she replied, stepping back a bit while looking at her feet. He then smirked slightly and replied, "It's fine…so we're going to be sharing this room now, right..?"

He then walked over to his desk and sat down in the chair while facing her direction with a rather bored expression on his face. She then composed herself and walked towards the sofa, sitting down while facing his direction as well. Both of them stared into eachother's eyes for a prolonged moment. And although Sakura seemed calm, her Inner-Sakura was still ranting on about Sasori's current state in his wet towel.

But she then pushed Inner-Sakura away and said, "If we are to share this room, then there need to be some rules." He arched his eyebrow and replied, "Is that so..? And since when do I take orders from a little girl?"

She clenched her teeth and snapped, "Don't forget that I'm the little girl who took you down."

She could see that the amusement in his eyes growing, making her even more agitated.

"Half-correct. My grandmother was the one who killed me in the end."

"And yet you could have easily dodged her attack at the last moment." She added, giving him an intense look.

His eyes widened a bit at her remark and then said, "Is that so..?"

She didn't reply back, she just continued to glare at him, but then sighed, deciding that she didn't want to antagonize him.

"…anyways, that's off-topic. Now, the rules…" she continued, leaning back into the couch.

"Ah, yes, your rules…" he muttered, curious about what these rules were.

"Yes. Now firstly, when I'm in the bathroom, you HAVE to knock!"

He gave her a puzzled look and snidely replied, "Is that even a proper rule? Besides, why wouldn't I knock?"

"BECAUSE, men are all the same, that's why." She replied while smirking. And before he could say anything again she spoke, saying, "Number 2…you can't go through ANY of my things. If you do, I'll rip your head off."

"Pfft…what kind of treacherous things do women keep with them?" he replied, not enjoying these rules.

"You don't want to know. Anyways, number 3-"

"May I cut you off?" he cut said while cutting in.

"You just did." She said while growling.

"If you're going to be spending the rest of the evening telling me about all these silly rules, then I have no desire in staying here and listening to you." He said while standing up and walking to the bathroom. She clenched her fists and growled deeply, trying to suppress the anger while shouting back,

"RULE NUMBER 3, if you piss me off while I'm here, I'll kick your-" she stopped when she felt a hand cover her mouth.

It was one of the puppets that was lying on the table before, but she could see the blue chakra strings running from the bathroom and onto the puppet. She then groaned at this and took it's hand off of her mouth.

"I'd keep those meaningful words to yourself, girl. Try not to overreact so much next time."she heard him say from the bathroom.

She was about to reply when he came out of the bathroom only wearing a pair of red trousers.

She frowned and then walked past him with her head held high as she entered the bathroom.

He only smirked at her reaction and picked up the book she was reading near his bed before. "Things could get interesting around here…" he said to himself as he put the book on the side-table. He then turned and looked at the bathroom door, hearing the water flowing into the bath tub.

He then realized that he'd forgotten his shirt in the bathroom and just assumed that she wouldn't be so fast in changing her clothes, so he walked over to the bathroom door and opened it, saying, "I forgot my shirt in here, so I'll just-"

"What the hell are you doing? I told you to knock you damn pervert!" Sakura screamed.

Meanwhile… 

Everyone opened their room doors and looked around the hallway, wondering where that scream had come from. Deidara, Sai, Hidan, Kakuzu and all the others had all their heads poking out of the doors.  
"What the hell was that, yeah?" Deidara asked.

"Sakura probably just got angry." Sai said.

"Maybe the puppet's getting laid!" Hidan said while grinning.

"Don't be ridiculous. He may be human now, but I doubt he'd be doing it with the person who killed him." Kakuzu said.

"Maybe he really pissed her off or something!" Kisame said with a toothy grin.

And before they knew it, Sasori suddenly flew out of the door of his room, landing gracefully on his feet while standing up and shouting,

"It isn't humanly possible to take your clothes off so quickly! I simply wanted to get my shirt, that's all! Why do you always overreact?"

She then marched out of the room to face him, wearing only a towel and shouting in his face, "I told you to KNOCK! You can't even give me any bit privacy, damn it!" she finished while holding up her fist to him. He stood where he was and was about to reply when they both noticed that nearly all the Akatsuki members including Sai were watching them.

"What the hell are you all looking at?" the two shouted simultaniously, glaring at them all.


	7. Human affections

**Thank god! Is it just me, or has fanfiction just been messed up in the last few days? I tried going onto the website**

**the whole time today, but it never loaded! Damn it...but now it's working at last^^**

**And I give you *drum roll* a new chapter! Muahahahaha**

**Sasori: Must you always talk before the chapter even begins?**

**Deidara: I think it's funny, yeah!**

**Sasori: Shut up Deidara.**

**Sakura: Don't tell him to shut up!**

**Sasori: Stay out of this Sakura.**

**Sakura: Don't make me smash your head into pieces *evil glare***

**Swissgal16: Can I have a say in the matter?**

**Everyone: NO!**

**Swissgal16: T_T**

Chapter 7: Human affections

"You sleep on the couch." Sasori said as he went over to his desk. She whipped her head towards him and then retorted, "The couch?"

Sakura was busy drying off her wet hair with a towel near the bed. She had changed into her pyjamas now, and after the 'incident' had occurred, her inner-Sakura had done nothing but rant inside her mind the whole time.

Sasori was now seated in his chair and busy fixing several parts on one of his puppets.

"Yes. Where else?" he replied lazily, looking through his drawers for a screw driver.

Sakura began fuming and then said, "The bed, for example..!"

He then stopped and turned to give her a puzzled look, saying, "Now why would I let you sleep in my bed?"

"Listen, Sasori." She said with a deathly tone, making him arche his eyebrow. "After what happened before, I have every damn right to sleep wherever I want.

Now either you let me sleep in the bed, or I start punching holes through wall. What's it gonna be?"

He then frowned and said, "Fine. But you go on the far end of the bed."

"Thank you." She said, smiling sweetly at him.

"_**Hell yeah!" **_Inner Sakura shouted.

After ten minutes had gone by, Sakura decided to go through some of the books she was looking at in the shelf before. She then picked out one that had the title,

'The Art of Puppetry.'

She smiled as she flicked through it, walking slowly around the bed and put it down on the little table as she got in.

She then pulled the dark red covers over her and began reading it, not noticing Sasori who was watching her from the corner of his eye.

He then sighed and put his tools down, deciding that it was late and walked over to the right side of the bed. She looked up at him as he got in but then went back to her book, turning over the page. He watched her curiously, and slowly scooted closer next to her as he looked over her shoulder.

She looked to her side to see him peering over at the book she was reading.

"Do you like it?" he asked. She then smiled slightly and replied, "It's interesting! I love reading about different types of fighting techniques, but I've never read any about puppetry."

He then asked, "More interesting than Deidara's exploding clay..?"

She then put the book down, folding the page so that she'd remember where she was, and looked at him while saying, "Deidara's a nice guy, but his 'creations' are sort of…well…"

"Stupid?"

"Erm, no…"

"Repulsive?"

"Um, no, that's not the word…" she said, her finger on her chin as she thought. "I mean that they're too simple."

He gave her a puzzled look and listened as she carried on, "It's just that he doesn't have any real designs…he just comes up with anything that pops up in that head of his. I mean, I like some of his artworks, but when it comes to puppetry…there's more detail and work put into them. And that's what I actually love about it."

"Really?" he asked, lying down and leaning on his hand as he listened to her. She did the same and carried on saying,

"Yeah. And remember when we fought? That was the first time I ever fought with puppets, but the way that Lady Chiyo and you controlled those puppets and made them fight was just, surreal! To think that one twitch of the finger could make a puppet come to life…" She finished, getting lost in her thoughts as she remembered that day.

He was smiling slightly after she said that and replied, "It's not that difficult, really. One just needs to practice as much as possible.

Crafting them is always tricky, but it's worth it in the end."

She then smirked and asked, "So speaking of which…how are you coping with your human body now?"

He widened his eyes a bit and looked down, saying, "It's different. But I'm getting used to it. It just bothers me that I'll can't live forever.

I always thought that art was something that lived on forever, but now look at me…"

She looked at him sadly, but then smiled, putting her hand on his cheek and stroking it gently. He flinched slightly at her touch and gave her a questioning look.

"Nothing lasts forever, Sasori. But you should be happy to be human now." She said.

"But why..?"

"Because now you can experience life from a different perspective. Plus, if you were a puppet…"

She then leaned forward, and kissed his forehead softly, slowly moving away.

"…then you wouldn't have been able to feel that…right?" she finished, chuckling slightly at his confused face.

His facial features then softened and he smirked, saying, "You know…in that book I have, called, 'The way the human mind works,' it says, that when humans who show affection to one another, that means that they're usually attracted to that one person…" he finished with an evil grin.

Her face began to turn completely red and she then shouted, "What are you talking about! I was just demonstrating something that people do when they're…"

"Attracted to someone…?" he finished for her.

"NO!" she shrieked, throwing her pillow at his head. He chuckled at this and threw it back at her, saying, "You don't have to deny it, Sakura."

"_**That guy's gonna pay for making fun of us! But he is kinda hot…wait scratch that, let's just kill the guy already, no matter how hot he is!" **_Inner Sakura shouted.

Sakura then nodded and smirked, pushing him off the bed. He fell down and growled as he got up, glaring at her grinning. He then took the bed covers and threw it over her, pinning her down underneath the duvet.

"Hey, what are you doing!" she mumbled as he trapped her under the bed's duvet.

"Restraining you!" he replied, but then grunted when she managed to get out and then pinned him down, grinnning triumphantly. His eyes just widened slightly as he said,

"That's the same look you gave me when you fought against the Third Kazekage's Iron sand."

"Really? You actually remember that?" she asked curiously.

But before he could reply, they suddenly heard a fluttering sound behind them. They looked to the side to see a small clay bird flying above them.

Meanwhile…

"Shit! They saw me!" Deidara complained in his room as he and Sai watched the small little screen in his room, which was recording everything that was happening in Sasori and Sakura's room.

Back in Sasori's room…

"What the hell ist that?" Sakura asked, getting off of Sasori and peering at the little clay bird in the air.

"One of Deidara's spy birds." Sasori replied angrily.

"What?"

"He usually only uses them during missions to record everything that an enemy is doing." He finished, glaring at the bird.

Sakura then began steaming and shouted at the bird with her fist in the air, "Deidara, what the hell do you think you're doing filming us!"

Deidara and Sai flinched as they watched Sakura shouting at them.  
"I think we should hide for a while, yeah." Deidara said, sweat dripping from both their foreheads. Sai simply nodded, and they both gasped when the screen suddenly went blank.

Sakura dusted her hands off, putting them on her hips as she stared down at the now smashed clay bird. Sasori grinned and then appeared right behind her, whispering in her ear,

"I love it when you do that." She shivered slightly when his breath touched the back of her neck.

"I'll deal with Deidara tomorrow…but let's just get some sleep now." She said, turning, but then paused when she suddenly felt his lips touching her forehead.

He then stood back and went back into the bed, putting all the pillows back to where they belonged, and smoothed out the duvet again.

She was just like the last time, frozen on the spot, but then smirked as she got back into the bed as well, saying,

"So what was that you were saying about human affections and being attracted to someone..?"

He glared at her and said, "That was different."

"What made it different?" she asked.

"Just go to bed, Sakura." He finished, turning off the lamp on the side.

Several moments later… 

"I can't sleep…" she mumbled, tossing and turning.

He growled and replied, "Neither can I for some reason…"

She then thought for a moment and said, "Want to go beat up Deidara?"

He then smirked and said while standing up and offering her hand while saying,

"Let's."


	8. The deal

**Oh god..I've been going over this whole story and i have soooo many mistakes! So i'm just**

**going to straight out apologize to you all for that! god...but I'm still really glad that you guys actually**

**'like' my story! so thanks a lot for all the reviews! but you know, i recently read the newest naruto mangas, and**

**i am soooooo happy because Deidara and Sasori are back again! plus they started fighting with each other already, so that made my day! lol**

**but anyways, PS. for all the SasoSaku fans, check out this awesome video of the Sasori vs sakura fight, BUT the story line is different and Sasori wins in the end! it's really awesome;D just look up: Sasori vs Sakura: Poison (Nicole Scherzinger) **

**it'll be the first video you see pop up, so enjoy!**

**anyways, hope you like the chapter!**

Chapter 8: The deal

Sakura yawned as she tried pulling the blanket closer to her body, but frowned when she fell it being pulled away from her.

She then tried grabbing it again, but it was soon pulled away from her like before.

She mumbled in her sleep and scooted over to the other side of the bed, finally finding the covers and pulling it up to her.

She then heard a groan and slowly opened her eyes, seeing Sasori's back to her. He didn't have any blanket, seeing as she stole it, so she carefully put some of it over his body, trying her best not to wake him.

After that she slowly closed her eyes again, falling back to sleep, but was then startled when he suddenly turned around, facing her.

His eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open as he slept. She smiled slightly, thinking,

"_I've got to admit…he's not bad looking…"_

"_**What the hell do mean 'not bad looking'? The guy's hot!"**_ her inner-Sakura shouted back.

She then gasped when she realized that she still had to find out who it was that brought Sasori back to life, along with the other Akatsuki members.

She smacked her forehead in anger, feeling stupid for forgetting the mission altogether.

She then sighed and looked back at Sasori's sleeping form, wondering how an S-Rank criminal like him could be so handsome, even when he was asleep.

"_I must be crazy…" _she thought, leaning closer to his face. But before she could do anything someone had burst through the bedroom door, screaming,

"Time to wake up Sakura-chan! You too Danna!"

She then recognised the voice as being Tobi's and growled lowly, giving him a frightening glare.

But before she could kill him, she suddenly noticed one of Sasori's puppets on the work table stand up and immediately capture Tobi inside it, locking him inside it's wooden jail.

"Hey! No fair! Let me out Sasori no danna!" Tobi shouted from inside, hitting the puppet from inside with his fists.

Sakura simply stared at the sight and shrieked when she felt two arms reach up and grab her pulling her back into the bed.

"I really do hate being interrupted…" Sasori said lazily pulling her closer to his warm body.

Her eyes widened and her cheeks began turning pink as he did this, but she then glared at him saying, "Do you do this to all the women you meet?"

He then chuckled and replied, saying, "No…you're the first."

She then began turning completely red, making him grin evilly.

"Do you always try kissing men in their sleep?"

She then scoffed saying, "I wasn't trying to kiss you! Now let go of me!"

"What would be the fun in that?"

She then growled and began channeling chakra into her fists, but stopped when she felt like she was losing control of her body. Sasori smirked saying,

"My strings are attached to you…so I'm afraid it's pointless trying to get away."

Sakura growled at this but then gasped slightly when Sasori cuddled up to her, closing his eyes while putting her head under his chin and saying,

"You wouldn't stop taking the blanket away from me last night, so I think I deserve some warmth."

Sakura rolled her eyes at this but then looked back up when she saw somone once again, barging into the room.

"Sasori! It's time to go downstairs, save the antics for later."

It was Kakuzu, and he seemed to be somewhat pissed over something, making sakura curious as she asked while still being trapped under Sasori's control,

"What's wrong Kakuzu?"

He looked at her and spat, "Hidan wouldn't stop doing his rituals last night, now there's blood everywhere.

The bastard should be lucky that he's immortal."

Sakura smiled awkwardly at this, not really sure if she should sympathize.

She then tried getting out from under Sasori, but he still restrained her.

"Well, I'll be going downstairs now. So I suppose I'll be seeing you both soon enough…" Kakuzu finished, sighing as he looked to the side to see one of Sasori's puppets on the carpet, hearing the screams that Tobi was emminating from within it too.

"And let Tobi out of there. He's a pain in the ass, but the last thing we need is another dead member to be resurrected." He finished, leaving the room.

Saskura's eyes widened at this statement and look back at Sasori who was already falling asleep.

She then tried shaking him a bit, while earning a low grumble from him.

"Sasori…" she asked softly.

"What is it?"

"Who exactly was it that resurrected you and Deidara?"

He then opened his eyes fully, giving her a puzzled look, but then saying,

"That's confidential. Why would you want to know?"

"I'm just curious…" she answered, sighing and looking back up at the ceiling.

Sasori then released his strings from her body and leaned towards her face, while whispering in her ear,

"Do you really want to know…?"

She widened her eyes slightly and nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"Well, if that's the case, then I'll need you to do a favour for me…"

Sakura frowned at this but listened intently as he continued, "I want you to spar with me."

Sakura simply blinked, saying, "Is that all?"

He smirked and replied, "Yes…and then I'll tell you who it is that resurrected me."

Sakura then grinned while saying, "Deal."

But as they got out of the bed, Sakura suddenly flinched when she heard the sound of thunder coming from outside. "Oh great…" she mumbled, looking out of the window as it began raining hard down.

Sasori then appeared behind her whispering, "Sparring in the rain is one of my favourite things to do."

She then turned to him shouting, "Are you crazy? We can't fight in the rain!"

"Why not?"

She then growled while saying, "It's WET. It's COLD. And I HATE the rain!"

He then scowled saying, "You still want to find out about my resurrection, don't you?"

She then paused, thinking for a moment and groaned saying, "Fine…but when we're done, I'm going in the shower first!"

They then both turned to leave the room and go downstairs but paused to look back at the strangely silent puppet that was still standing in the middle of the room.

"That thing does have air in it, right Sasori?" Sakura asked him.

"Of course not. That puppet's main ability is to make the victim suffocate until they drop dead." He answered calmly.

She then glared at him, making him roll his eyes.

"Alright…" he said, snapping his fingers as the puppet then opened up completely.

"C-c-can't b-br-breathe…" tobi sputtered out, as he stumbled out of the puppt, lying motionless on the ground.

"Let's get breakfast." Sasori said, walking out of the room.


	9. Fun in the rain

**Guess what? I sprained my damn ankle. Which is good for you guys, cause then**

**I can update a lot sooner...damn it. Not that it's a bad thing, it just hurts sooo damn much!**

**But anyways, since I had nothing else to do today, I decided to write a nice loooong chapter for you guys this time^^**

**Hehe, hope you all like it! and be nice...please..?**

**XD**

Chapter 9: Fun in the rain

"It's about time, Sasori!" Konan said as she watched Sakura and him walk into the kitchen.

She was wearing a white apron and seemed to be making breakfast for everyone.

All the other Akatsuki members including Sai were already sitting at the kitchen table, still wearing their pyjamas as they chatted with oneanother.

Pein was seated at the front of the table, resting his hand on his chin as he lazily watched everyone talk.

Sasori and Sakura then walked over to the large table and sat down next to Hidan and Kakuzu.

"What nickname should I give you? Hmmm…I can't call you dickless, since I already call Naruto that…" Sai said to Itachi who was sitting next to him.

Itachi simply let out a low warning growl as Sai pondered, saying, "How about…cross-eyed? Or…emo-guy?" Deidara, who sat on sai's other side couldn't stop laughing then, hitting his fist on the table.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu and Hidan were fighting over what happened the previous night as Hidan did his rituals in their room.

"Fuck you Kakuzu! I'll do whatever I want!"

Kakuzu then eventually lost it, ripping off Hidan's right arm while throwing it to the side as blood spurted out onto the floor.

"Damn it, Kakuzu! That was my good arm! I'll rip your head off for this!"

"And how do you plan on doing that without any arms?" Kakuzu snapped.

Sakura couldn't stop staring at that particular scene, gulping as she looked away. "Hahaha, nice one Sai!" Deidara cheered, giving Sai a high-five.

But right then, Tobi suddenly appeared, sitting down on the chair next to the silent Zetsu as he said,

"Phew…I'm glad I made it! Otherwise I couldn't have Konan's yummy pancakes for breakfast!" he finished, clapping his hands together.

"Damn…I thought he was dead." Sasori said while lazily putting his hand on his chin like Pein.

"Is breakfast-time always this…hyperactive?" Sakura whispered in his ear curiously. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and smirked slightly saying,

"Only from Monday to Friday."

"Alright, who wants smiley pancakes?" Konan asked in a serious tone.

"I do!" Tobi, Deidara and Hidan shouted in unison.

She then walked past everyone, putting toast, eggs and for the three men, pancakes on all their plates.

Sakura uttered a thank you and they all then began eating. Hidan tried using his mouth to cut his food up, but struggled, earning a sigh from Kakuzu who then quickly did it for him.

"Gee…thanks. It would've been a hell of a lot nicer if I had arms though!" Hidan then cursed out loud, growling at Kakuzu.

Sakura then groaned and got up, making everyone look at her curiously as she walked over to the end of the room.

She then slowly picked up Hidan's amputated arm while walking back to him and saying,

"I'm only doing this once, so try not to lose it again."

Hidan gave her a puzzled look as she put his dead arm back onto the place where it should have been on his body, while applying chakra to it.

She continued to do so, adding more and more until she was sure that it was attached to his body again. He stared in a amazement, moving his arm around while shouting,

"Hell yeah! Thanks bitch!"

She then gave him a piercing glare, making him shrink back into his place while saying, "Er…I mean, thanks Sakura!"

Everyone was in awe after watching her attach Hidan's arm back to his body, but she then simply smiled and walked over to the basin to wash up her hands.

They then continued eating and chattering away with eachother like before.

Sasori just smirked as she came back to sit down, saying,

"That was quite impressive. Your skills have improved since the last time." She just shrugged, replying,

"It was nothing…I've had worse to deal with."

Itachi had been watching the two as they spoke, chewing his food slowly while thinking,

_"How can that girl be so…?"_

Sakura then looked up from her plate to see him staring, but he then looked away, ignoring her and swallowing his food.

_"I guess he's still onto us…"_ She thought, looking back to her own plate. _"I wonder if Sai's found out anything about who brought the members back to life…and about Sasuke…" _She then took her cup of water and drank the whole thing in one go, earning a strange look from Sasori.

"Something bothering you?" he asked curiously.

She laughed nervously and said, "No…it's nothing."

He then huffed and stood up, taking his plate to the sink. He looked out of the window and saw that it was still raining, which soon made him smirk.

He then sat down next to her, waiting patiently until she was finished and said,

"Ready..?"

She gave him a puzzled look, and turned to look out of the window. "Uggh…now?" she mumbled.

After that, everyone cleaned up and went back to their rooms to change out of their pyjamas and into their Akatsuki outfits, whereas Sakura decided to wear her normal mission outit, leaving her headband in her bag. Sasori meanwhile, just changed into his normal Akatsuki outfit, calling out for her to hurry up before leaving the room.

"Just meet me outside by the gardens." He quickly said, earning a grumble from her as she put her boots on, clearly not pleased about going to fight in the rain.

"Whatever…" she muttered under her breath as she ran out through the backdoor of the base to where the gardens were supposed to be.

As she walked through the door, she gasped to see that there was a large garden. It wasn't raining as hard as before, but she still hated the weather.

She then walked down the dirt path looking at all the roses to the side. But as she continued walking down it, she suddenly saw Deidara, Tobi and Sai standing around the flowers with trimmers in their hands.

"Oh, hey there Sakura!" Deidara shouted through the rain.

"What are you guys doing?" she shouted back.

"Konan made us come out here to trim the hedges and plant more flowers in the garden, yeah." He finished while adjusting the hat he was wearing, which seemed to have a mini umbrella on top of it.

She then couldn't suppress the giggles from her mouth as she began laughing at the three.

They then simply groaned and carried on with their work.

"Move it, motherfuckers! Leave the hedge trimming to me!" she heard Hidan's voice ring out.

She then suddenly saw the three men duck as Hidan threw his scythe forward and slice the top of the hedges in perfect horizontal lines.

She then shook her head, walking away from the area as she neared a field, which had several trees standing on the edge of it, leading to a forest.

She stood right in the middle.

The wind blew her hair in all directions and the rain continued to fall, making her clothes damp already.

There was a mixture of grass and soil on the ground, showing signs of previous fights that could've taken place there.

She took a deep breath as she waited for Sasori to appear, putting on her game face.

"_I have to remember that this is just a simple spar…afterall, it's not going to be like the last fight we had…right?" _she thought, shivering as the rain continued to pour down.

Several minutes went by and she was beginning to get annoyed with how long he was taking to show up.

"Where the hell is that-" she was suddenly cut off when she sensed something coming from behind her.

She jumped upwards and looked down to see a long cord with a dagger at the end of it being released by one of Sasori's puppets.

"Damn it!" she shrieked as the puppet flew upwards, ready to attack. She then landed back onto the ground, sliding backwards on her hands and feet as the puppet was suddenly shot forwards.

She then got up and ran forward, making several hand signs as she leapt up.

Three shadow clones then suddenly appeared with her, running in different directions.

"_A justu as simple as that won't do anything for you, Sakura." _Sasori thought as he watched her from a safe distance in one of the trees.

The real Sakura then suddenly disappeared, leaving the other three shadow clones deal with the puppet.

As the shadow clones attacked the puppet which continued to strike each of them with it's cord, they soon all turned into nothing but puffs of smoke.

Sasori's eyes widened at this, making him smirk slightly.

And at that moment he turned to see Sakura leaping towards him, while holding a fist filled with chakra ready to attack him.

He smirked as he watched her come closer towards him.

"Touché." He said with an evil smirk plastered on his face as he did pulled a scroll out from underneath his sleeve.

Sakura's eyes widened at this, shouting,

"You're not going anywhere!"

At that moment, she slammed her fist forward, gasping when she hit something hard.

She looked forward to see that her fist had connected with a large shield, too hard for even her to penetrate.

"What the hell?" she shouted.

Sasori stood behind it with another large puppet holding the shield infront of him.

The branch they were both on then suddenly collapsed, making them both lose balance and fall down the tall tree.

Sakura cursed as she fell, looking up to see Sasori suddenly disappear.

She screamed for a moment as she fell and then began thinking quickly as she channeled chakra in both her fists and feet, trying to grab a branch on one of the trees behind her.

She then grabbed one, but it suddenly snapped, making her grip onto the bark itself.

She sighed in relief as she then slowly slid down it.

"That bastard's going to pay for abandoning me at that moment!" she growled as she landed gracefully on the ground.

"What makes you think I abandoned you?" she then heard him say, grabbing her from behind and resting his head on her shoulder.

She growled as he did this but paused to see him grinning.

She then tried punching him, but he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Great…" she mumbled, rubbing her forhead as she cautiously made her way back to the field they were fighting before.

When she reached it, she looked upwards, feeling the rain lightly hit her face.

She sighed and then looked around, seeing if she could sense any traces of Sasori's chakra in the area.

But before she could relax, she suddenly heard the sound of wood clattering abover her.

She widened her eyes, her mouth slightly gaping as she stared at the many puppets above her slowly come nearer.

"Damn him…" she muttered, clenching her fist.

* * *

"Hey, Tobi! Sai! Check that out!" Deidara said, pointing at the scene that was taking place on the field.

He grinned and took out his scope, getting a better view of the fight between Sakura and Sasori's many puppets.

Sai couldn't see anything, and neither could Tobi, but Sai then came up with an idea, saying,

"Have I ever shown you my art, Deidara?" he finished, pulling out an ink pen and some paper.

* * *

Sakura struggled to fend off all of the puppets at once, but somehow managed to counter all of their attacks.

"_They're faster than the last time we fought…"_ she thought, dodging all the needles that were being shot towards her.

She tried to come up with a plan that would take them all out at once, and landed on the ground, breathing heavily as she then looked upwards to see Deidara, Sai and Tobi sitting on one of Sai's ink birds which was fluttering above all the puppets.

She then smirked and leapt forwards, jumping from puppet to puppet in the air as she reached the three men.

"I never thought you'd be an artist like me, yeah! So does your art also blow up?" Deidara asked enthusiastically.

Sai then smiled saying, "In a way…but that can only happen if-" he was then cut off when they shrieked as Sakura jumped towards them, smirking as she shouted,

"Sorry guys, you're gonna have to get out of the way!"

All the puppets were catching up right behind her, and she then punched the bird, making it splatter ink all over the puppets and herself.

The three men were then falling down, Tobi screaming as loud as he could.

But Deidara then quickly pulled out some clay and made one of his own clay birds appear underneath them.

They all then landed onto it with a thud. "Phew…Deidara sempai is my hero!" Tobi squeeled, hugging Deidara tightly.

"Get the hell off me!"

* * *

Sasori frowned when he realized what Sakura had done. She had made the ink splatter onto all his puppets, including herself, making it hard for him to determine which one was indeed her.

Sakura darted through the confused puppets, punching each and every one of them, while leaving them scattered on the ground.

When she managed to take them all out, she then tried figuring out where Sasori was hiding.

She smirked when she felt his chakra emminating from behind a large bush, and looked down to see the ink already washing away because of the rain.

She just brushed it off and carried on running towards the bush.

Her chakra was low, and so was Sasori's, but she didn't care about that right now.

She just wanted to get this over and done with.

By the time she reached there, she jumped over the bush, ready to attack, but growled when he wasn't there.

Once again, he had disappeared.

She then sat down on her knees, too tired to continue. She breathed heavily and then tried healing the injuries on her legs, caused by the needles from before.

"Damn this weather..." she muttered, flinching when she touched one of the deep scratches on her arm.

When she was done, she stood up and looked around the area, not seeing Sasori, and just when she was about to leave, he tackled her from behind.

They both fell to the ground, wrestling until he was on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

"I win." He said in a deadly tone.

She grunted and looked to the side while sulking for a moment, not bothering to get him off of her.

Her chakra was already drained, and she could barely move as it was.

He then leaned forward until she could feel his breath on her neck.

She then flushed as he began kissing her gently on the neck, moving up to her now reddened face.

"What are you..?"

"There were scratches on your neck." He said bluntly while smirking.

"Oooh! Things are heating up!" Deidara said excitedly as he watched them along with Sai and Tobi.

"Let me see." Sai then said, taking a look through Deidara's scope.

His eyes then widened at the scene. _"What are you doing Sakura..?" _ he thought seriously.

"_What IS he doing?" _Sakura thought.

She could feel her heart beating faster as he smirked at her, leaning towards her face. She then turned her head to the side, feeling both scared and nervous at the same time.

_"I-I don't know what to do…what about Sasuke…?"_

Sasori gave her a puzzled look as he tried reading her facial expressions, seeing that she was indeed nervous. But he then came closer and moved her chin so that she faced him, asking curiously,

"Why are you nervous all of a sudden?"

"_Gee, I don't know, maybe because a hot guy is straddling me..? Wait a minute, did I just think that? What the hell! Great now I'm going crazy…"_

Sakura groaned at her herself as she thought this, earning some more puzzled looks from him, but he just chuckled while shaking his head.

And before she had time to carry on ranting inside her head, he immediately leaned forward, their lips centimetres away from eachother.

He then hesitated, not feeling quite as sure about himself anymore.

"Oh, come on Danna! Be a man!" Deidara said out loud, clenching his fist in anxiety as the three continued spying on the two.

"_**What the hell are you waiting for? It's not like Sasuke ever showed his damn feelings to you! Move on, and take a good look at the guy infront of you, damn it!" **_Inner Sakura shouted.

Sasori still hesitated for a moment, but then, they both suddenly moved forward at the same time, locking each other's lips.

They deepened it after a few seconds, along with Sakura putting her arms around his neck as he gently held her close to his body.

"Woohoo!" Deidara and Tobi shouted, cheering Sasori and Sakura on while they jumped up and down on Deidara's clay bird.

Sai was too shocked to react at that moment, not sure about what to make of the scene that had now taken place.

She kissed him.

And he now knew that this would probably make things even more complicated in completing their mission…and yet, he somehow felt happy Sakura…

The rain continued to pour down lightly, making Sakura shiver.

Sasori noticed this, and broke away from the kiss while taking his cloak off and wrapping it around her as they sat up now.

"I really do hate the rain…" she grumbled with a red tinge still showing on her cheeks.

He then smirked and replied while moving towards her face again, saying,

"I beg to differ…"

* * *

But meanwhile, not far off from where they all were…someone was hidden in one of the trees on the edge of the forest, watching them intently with his sharingan eyes...


	10. What did you say?

**It's been awhile, sorry I kept you guys waiting! Just been pretty busy at the moment...**

**But I hope that the chapter's okay...after reading through it, i didn't think it was so good, but tell me what you guys think.**

**Sasori: I think it sucks.**

**Swissgal16: Cut me some slack T_T**

**Sasori: ...why? **

**Swissgal16: I'm NOT in the mood!**

**Sasori: I guess all women really do overreact.**

**Sakura: What was that, Sasori?**

**Sasori: It's a fact.**

**Sakura: *clenches her teeth***

**Sai: Can't we all just get along...?**

**Everyone: NO!**

**Sai: T_T**

Chapter 10: What did you say..?

"Orochimaru." Sasori said, working on a new puppet by his desk.

Sakura simply blinked and looked up from the bed, putting down her book. "What?"

Sasori then put all his tools down and got up from his chair, sitting on the bed with a serious look on his face.

"Orochimaru's reviving justu. Pain uncovered it among the rubble which used to be Orochimaru's lair- well, that is, after the Uchiha had killed him of course.

The Akatsuki was simply investigating and they came across all of Orochimaru's scrolls, which had valuable justus written down on them.

Pain was desperate at the time, seeing as there was only a small number of Akatsuki members left, so he revived us."

Sakura simply stared, repeating everything that he had just said in her mind.

"_So Orochimaru's justu was what helped revive Sasori and the others…?" _she thought, secretly pleased that she had gained information.

Sasori then gave her an odd look and smirked, moving closer to her. She was too deep in thought to notice this but then grunted when she felt his arms encircling her waist and pulling her closer towards him.

"Was that a good enough answer? Afterall, we did have a deal didn't we..? he said, chuckling when he saw her face turn slightly red.

She then thought back to the fight that they had before, out in the rain. The last part was unexpected, but it made her feel uneasy when she realized that things would get complicated if she and Sasori got any closer. Thinking about this again, she turned her head away from him, feeling ashamed for lying and using him to gain information.

He gave her a curious look and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

She didn't say anything, making him frown slightly.

She just stared at the ceiling, not sure about what to say.

"_Should I tell him the truth..?" _she thought, sighing a bit.

Sasori continued to give her confused looks while thinking, _"Great…I did something, didn't I? Or was it something I said?"_

He shook his head then, leaning forward and kissing her softly on the cheek. She then turned back to look at him, slightly surprised, along with red cheeks flaring.

She then cooled herself down, thinking, _"You know what…forget the damn mission! This guy may be an S-class criminal, but he's also a gentleman! And the most decent guy I've met…" _

"Sasori?" she then asked, looking him straight in the eye.

"Yes?" he asked, still holding onto her.

Meanwhile… 

"What kind of shit is this?" Hidan shouted in frustration as he flicked over all the channels on the television. All the other Akatsuki members except Deidara, Sai and Tobi were just lazily seated on the couches in the living room. "Fuck this…there's nothing on." Hidan groaned.

But just when they were about to give up on finding something to watch on television, Deidara, Sai and Tobi suddenly appeared.

"Fear no more, yeah!" Deidara shouted, throwing his fist in the air.

He then pulled out what seemed to be a video camera, and then plugged it into the television.

"My new and IMPROVED spy-cam will definitely record everything that Sasori no danna and Sakura are doing, without them sensing it's presence!" he said proudly.

Pain then sighed, resting his chin on his hand as he said, "Deidara, why is it that you are so obsessed with filming them when they're in their room?"

Deidara then blinked, saying, "It's fun, yeah! They're always doing interesting stuff in there…" he finished while grinning.

He then grabbed the remote from Hidan and turned on the television.

Back in Sasori's room…

"I need to tell you something…"

He arched an eyebrow at this and urged her to carry on.

"The truth is…I'm actually-"

He then cut in, saying, "Hold that thought."

She gave him a puzzled look, and watched as he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small blue velvet box. Sakura stared at it curiously as he looked back at her, saying,

"Sai said that you liked things like this…so…here." He finished, looking slightly embarassed as he opened it, revealing a silver ring with a small red ruby in it.

Sakura's eyes widened completely, staring at the ring in his hands.

"W-what's that for?" she uttered, still surprised.

He rolled his eyes at her and took her hand, placing it on her ring finger while saying, "You, obviously."

She looked at it in awe, not understanding why he had given it to her.

"Why..?" she asked.

"Because…well-I just thought you might like it. That's all." He muttered, turning away from her.

"I can take it back if you don't like it…"

She blinked and then smiled, saying, "It's beautiful Sasori, I love it! Thank you." She then leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips, making him widen his eyes.

She then moved back, smiling at him. He returned the smile and then held her in his arms, letting her rest her head underneath his chin.

"So what were you going to tell me before?" he asked curiously.

She flinched at his question, saying, "Oh, I-erm…" she then took a breath and answered properly, "I wanted to tell you that the truth is, I actually…" she then looked to the side to see one of Deidara's spy birds watching them from above.

"I love you." She blurted out.

Back in the living room…

Everyone's mouths were gaping. They had all resorted to sitting right infront of the television, not believing anything that they were seeing.

"I told you that they did interesting stuff in that room, yeah!" Deidara shouted.

Sai was completely shocked, after hearing what she had just said to Sasori on the screen. He suddenly had the urge to jump off a cliff.

"Shit." He whispered to himself.

* * *

"What did you say..?" Sasori asked with slightly widened eyes, not sure if he heard her correctly.

"_Shit, shit, shit! Why did I just say that? That damn spy bird was filming us, I couldn't tell him that I was secretly under cover and planning on using the Akatsuki for capturing Sasuke, otherwise the entire organization would find out!" _she thought, beginning to panic.

"I-I'm just going to go have a bath!" she suddenly blurted out.

She then jumped out of the bed, running to the bathroom while slamming the door behind her.

Sasori didn't know how to react.

She had just told him that she loved him…a sentence that he hadn't heard in years.

* * *

"Don't give up Sasori no danna! Go after her! Love always prevails!" Tobi shouted at the screen, hugging it while making the others pissed off.

"Move it Tobi! I can't miss this!" Pain suddenly shouted.

Everyone stared at their leader with puzzled faces after his unexpected outburst. He then folded his arms and spat,

"I'm you leader. I can do and say whatever I want. So stop staring at me like that!"

Konan patted his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

Itachi was meanwhile still sitting on one of the sofas, deep in thought.

"_It was obvious that she wasn't about to confess her love for him…she must have spotted the spy-cam, making her panic before she could think clearly. But was she actually willing to tell Sasori her secret…? Strange girl..."_ He thought.

* * *

"Sakura..!" Sasori called out to her, knocking on the bathroom door.

"I'm having a bath!" she shouted back.

"Ugh, sure you are." He said sarcastically, managing to open the door, but was only greeted with a pink soap being thrown into his face.

"PERVERT!" she shouted, grabbing a towel and covering her body while stomping towards him.

"_Honestly, it's not POSSIBLE to change out of one's clothes to quickly!" _he thought, stomping towards her as well.

They then stopped infront of eachother, giving eachother a stern look.

"What did I tell you about knocking?"

"Like before, how the hell can you change so quickly!"

"What do you mean..!"

"That's off topic, now tell me why you've been acting to strange!"

"I've not been acting strange, it's YOU who's been acting strange!"

"Me! There you go, overreacting again! Do all women act like this?"

"Only the one's who happen to have a sense of dignity!"

"What does dignity have to do with this situation?"  
"Just get out and let me have some damn privacy, Sasori!"

"I just want to talk to you, that's all!"

"Talk? There's nothing to talk about!"

At that moment, Sasori grabbed her by the shoulders and asked in a whispered tone, "Then why did you say that you loved me?"

She then turned red again, looking away and saying, "I-I-I just…"

She then gave out a frustrated groan and said softly, "I-it just sort of came out."

He blinked and loosened his grip on her shoulders, not sure about what to say now.

"Now confess your love Sasori no danna!" Deidara and Tobi shouted in unison, earning some disapproving looks from the others.

It was silent now.

An awkward type of silence that made them both want to crawl under a rock…

"Just sort of came out, eh?" Sasori then muttered, turning away as he walked back towards the door. Sakura wanted to call him and make him come back…but she was frozen on the spot. She then looked down, staring at the ring he had given her before.

"I really do love it…" she then said, making him pause for a moment as he touched the door knob.

"And the truth is…I think that I've fallen for you." She uttered, slightly nervous, but being honest at the same time. He then looked over his shoulder, looking confused again.

She walked up to him, tightening the towel that was still around her body and making him turn to look at her.

She then stood on her toes, leaning towards him and saying,

"I…love you, Akasuna no Sasori."

The confusion then left his face. He smirked instead, holding mischief in his eyes as he leaned forward as well, holding her close to him.

* * *

Everyone cheered as the couple kissed passionately on the television screen.

Deidara wiped an invisible tear drop off of his face and said, "My Danna…is finally going to get laid! I'm so proud of him…"

Sai gave him a puzzled look and asked, "Since when were they going to…?"

"Isn't it obvious! Geez, Sai…sometimes you act weird…yeah." Deidara answered, shaking his head.

"Damn…this is better than TV!" Hidan shouted, grinning the entire time.

* * *

"Your towel's slipping off, Sakura." Sasori said after breaking the kiss. She screeched and pulled it back up, giving him a glare as he chuckled slightly.

"I'll leave you to bathe in privacy now." He then said, leaving the room while closing the door. Sakura then sighed, turning on the taps and having a nice long bath.

Once she was done, she dried herself off and put on her pyjamas, drying off her hair.

She then heard a fluttering sound, looking up to see Deidara's spy-cam still there. She then screamed, "DEIDARA! YOU PERVERT! When I'm out of this bathroom, I'm going to kick your-"

She then cut herself off, shivering when she felt a breeze. She looked to the left to see that the bathroom window was wide open.

"That's weird…I never opened the window before." She said to herself, reaching for the window's handle.

But after closing it, she then suddenly gasped when she felt someone's hand cover her mouth.

"Scream and I'll kill you without hesitation."

She widened her eyes, recognizing the man's voice.

"_I-it can't be…Sasuke?"_


	11. Reunion

**Lol,I couldn't stop writing last night, so here's the next chapter for you guys! ^^**

**PS. Thanks you soooo much for all the reviews!**

Chapter 11: Reunion

Sweat dripped from her for head as she tried figuring out what to do.

Sasuke had his katana pressed slightly against her neck while he used his other hand to keep her mouth closed.

"It's been awhile…hasn't it, Sakura?" he whispered in her ear.

She then growled and bit down hard on his hand, making him flinch as he pulled his hand away.

"_Deidara's spy-cam is still there…which means Sasuke hasn't noticed it yet…" _she thought.

His katana was still pressed against her neck, so she took a chance and channeled chakra into her hands, grabbing the sword and pushing it away as she flung a kick into his abdomen from behind.

He wasn't expecting her to do something like that, and crashed into the sink behind him.

She smirked and walked up to him slowly.

But just as she neared him, she sensed his chakra disappear for a moment, and then saw the Sasuke that she had attacked, puff into a cloud of smoke.

"Shit." She muttered, whipping her head behind and gasping when he suddenly tackled her down.

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom…

Sasori looked up from his work table, arching an eyebrow when he heard a loud bang coming from the bathroom. He then shook his head thinking,  
_"Women these days…" _and then turned back to his incomplete puppet, putting it to the side as he walked over to the bed.

* * *

"That was unexpected…to think you actually managed to gain some skill in the past four years." Sasuke muttered, looking her over as he held his sword up to her neck again.

She gritted her teeth and growled lowly, glaring at him with fiery eyes.

"Shut up." She said in a deep tone, flinching when she felt blood trickling down from her neck.

"What's wrong? I thought that you'd be happy seeing me again." He said, showing no emotion in his eyes as he pressed the sword harder down onto her neck.

"I'd be happier beating the crap out of you!" she spat.

He arched an eyebrow at this and smirked slightly, raising his sword slightly.

"_Here's my chance..!" _she thought quickly, punching him as hard as she could, watching him crash into the bathroom door which immediately collapsed.

* * *

"What the hell? Why's that Uchiha kid here!" Kakuzu shouted at the screen.

The Akatsuki were still watching Deidara's spy-cam on the television, staring in amazement after Sakura managed to land a hit on the younger Uchiha.

Itachi was was about to leave the room until he saw that his brother had appeared on the screen as well.

"_My…isn't that a surprise?" _he thought, watching the fight with interest.

Deidara then growled and angrily pointed towards the screen while shouting, "That's the bastard who killed me!"

"Oh no! He's going to kill Sakura-chan! What do we do Pain-sama?" Tobi cried out, shaking Pain by the shoulders.

Pain growled at this and said, "If things get out of hand, we'll go there and break it up. But meanwhile…I want to see how Sakura manages to fend for herself during this fight."

* * *

The door was now completely destroyed, lying in a small pile of broken wood on the clean carpet. Sasuke was on the ground, gripping his chest as he felt the pain rushing through his body.

He then wiped the blood that was dripping from his lip, and glared at her while activating his sharingan. Sakura then walked towards him, fists being engulfed with chakra as she prepared her next attack.

"Sakura, if you really felt the need to kill someone, I could have certainly gotten Deidara or Tobi for you." She suddenly heard Sasori say.

Sakura then blinked and looked forward to see him sitting comfortably in his bed with a book in hand, but watching the scene with pure amusement in his eyes.

He then slowly stood up, walking towards Sasuke who was still on the ground.

Sasuke simply smirked and disappeared in a split second, appearing behind Sasori while sticking his katana through his chest.

Sasori gaped at this action, widening his eyes.

"Pathetic." Sasuke said.

Sakura couldn't react at all, she just stared as Sasori's body limply fell to the ground, a small puddle of blood forming underneath him.

But before she could run forward to aid him, she took a halt and gasped when his body turned into a puff of smoke.

Sasuke grunted at this, disappointed that he had missed.

"I really do hate waiting…so let's make this quick, and tell me why you're here, Uchiha." Sasori said, appearing infront of Sakura defensively.

Sasuke straightened up and glared at the puppet master.

Sakura stared at Sasori for a moment and noticed that he was wearing his Akatsuki cloak, making her raise an eyebrow.

"Hey, Sasori..?" she said, squinting her eyes at him. He turned to give her a slightly annoyed look, asking, "What?"

"When did you get the time to change into your Akatsuki outfit so quickly?"

He then rolled his eyes at her saying, "I prefer not to fight with my pyjamas still on. Plus, it's basically the same thing you're asking about whenever YOU change OUT of your clothes so quickly."

She then glared at him for a moment, making him chuckle slightly.

"I see you've already gotten over me Sakura…I'm surprised. I never would have thought that you'd be the type to fall for a wooden puppet..." Sasuke then said, interrupting their discussion.

Sasori clenched his teeth at his last comment and was about to retort back when Sakura took a step forward, standing next to him while growling lowly.

"You have no right to talk about him like that, he's more of a man than you'll ever be, you damn traitor!" she shouted, running forward and leaping towards him with her fists glowing with chakra.

"Sakura..you were supposed to stay back!" Sasori hissed angrily as he did several hand signs, making several puppets appear.

Sasuke easily dodged her first attack, making her slam her fist into the ground.

The entire room began collapsing due to the force she put into it. But she then continued throwing kicks and punches towards him, having to jump over all the jagged rocks sticking out of the ground now.

It eventually started tiring her out as she jumped backwards while breathing heavily.

Sasuke was also taking a moment to breathe, staring at the damage that she had caused to the room.

"_I heard that she had been training under the fifth Hokage…but I never knew that she would actually be-" _

his thoughts were then cut off when he heard the sound of wood clattering behind him.

He turned and jumped upwards before Sasori's puppets could capture him.

"Sakura," Sasori said behind her, making her glance back towards him. "Let me handle this now." He finished with a smirk as he used his fingers to control the puppets which were now throwing weapons towards the Uchiha who was having trouble dodging each attack.

"_Sasuke's never fought against puppets before…judging by the way he's just avoiding Sasori's attacks…so we've got the upper hand. But wait!__I still have to keep him alive, that's part of my mission, damn it!" _Sakura thought rapidly, watching the fight with worry in her eyes.

But she then looked down to see she was still wearing her pyjamas, which were now completely dirty, making her fume while shouting at Sasuke,

"Damn it! These were my only pyjamas, and you ruined them!"

Sasuke arched his eyebrows at her, not sure if she was even paying attention to the fight. Sasori also glanced back at her, giving her a look that said,

'_Now isn't the time to worry about_ your damn _attirement, woman!'_

She simply grumbled something under her breath after he turned away again.

Sasuke was beginning to get sick of dodging the attacks so he quickly took out his katana again and leaped past all the puppets, looking down and cutting Sasori's strings.

"So you actually saw where my strings were attached..? I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less, seeing as you come from Uchiha clan." Sasori said, pulling out a scroll from under his sleeve.

* * *

"This is getting good, yeah!" Deidara said out loud, pressing his face against the screen.

"Het, move it, dipshit! We also wanna watch!" Hidan shouted, clenching his teeth.

Sai was in complete shock after seeing Sasuke appear. He had never expected the Uchiha to ACTUALLY appear. So he was now deciding whether or not he should go and help Sakura…but then again, Sasori was with her, so there was no doubt in his mind that he and Sakura would be able to defeat him.

"_Do your best Sakura." _He thought, turning to look at Itachi who was also seeming to enjoy watching the three fight.

"Hey, dickless." He then said with a fake smile.

Itachi then looked towards him with his sharingan blazing as a sign of intimidation, which didn't seem to be doing anything for Sai...

"Can you pass me the bowl of chips?"

Itachi continued glaring at him, picking up the bowl slowly.

"What was that..?" he asked in a threatening tone.

"Can you pass me the bowl of chips, dickless?"

Itachi then threw the bowl hard into Sai's face, chips scattering everywhere.

* * *

Sasuke charged towards Sasori, using his chakra to make his chidori take form in his hands.

Sasori then did several hand signs in a split second, making two large puppets appear. He then began controlling them with invisible chakra strings so that it would be harder for the Uchiha to see them.

The first puppet flew forward, opening it's large jagged mouth and releasing thousands of needles forwards. Sasuke widened his eyes at this and jumped down, grunting when he felt one of them pierce his neck.

"Shit." He muttered.

Sasori grinned slightly, watching the Uchihan continue running towards him with his chidori which was releasing hundreds of sparks.

"Sasori!" Sakura shouted, suddenly fearing that Sasori didn't know the damage that the chidori could cause.

Sasori then made his second puppet go infront of him, holding out a steel shield.

Sasuke smirked and threw his hand forwards, attacking the shield with the strength of his chidori.

Sasori then leapt upwards, leaving the puppet behind.

Sasuke looked back up, confused with his sudden action, but then paused when he felt that he couldn't move his body anymore. He looked at the puppet infront of him and let his chodori fade away, realizing what had happened. There were chakra strings attached to his arms and legs.

He managed to move his head around slowly, looking back to see Sasori holding out the chakra strings that were now controlling Sasuke's body.

"W-when d-did you..?" Sasuke uttered.

Sasori then gave him a dark look, saying, "All my chakra strings are attached to my puppets. And that puppet that you just attacked, had rather special chakra strings… making it possible for me to link them with your body when you came into contact with it."

Sasuke then scoffed, scowling at the puppet master.

Sakura couldn't believe what she had just seen…Sasuke had been taken down, and easily as well. Something that she had never seen before.

She then took a deep breath walking over to Sasori and linking her one hand with his while smiling at him. He arched an eyebrow at this action, but then returned her smile.

Sasuke merely stared at the scene, wanting to rip the puppet master's head off, but he then smirked as he remembered something important, saying,

"I see you haven't told him yet, Sakura…"

She whipped her head back towards Sasuke and glared at him saying, "And what would that be?"

"That you were merely using him and the rest of the Akatsuki to capture me."

Her eyes widened at this and she then began panicking in her head, quickly retorting back, "What the hell makes you think that! And anyways, what were YOU doing, capturing me?"

Sasori looked from her to Sasuke, slightly confused at what was being discussed.

"As if I'd tell you." Sasuke replied, glaring at her.

But before they could carry on arguing, Pain and the other Akatsuki members barged into the room, slamming the door open.

Sakura then began fuming, walking up to Deidara and shaking him by his collar while shouting, "Deidara, I'm going to beat the crap out of you! First you watch me have a bath, you damn pervert! AND THEN, you watch me as I get attacked and nearly killed, damn it!"

Deidara seemed to slowly shrink in place, giving her an apologetic look.

Sasori then appeared behind Deidara whispering in a deathly tone, "You spied on Sakura as she bathed..?"

Deidara then gulped, sweat dripping from his forehead as he nervously chuckled.

"Actually, we all watched it!" Tobi then added happily.

"What?" Sasori and Sakura said in unision.

"Yeah! Deidara-senpai was nice enough to put it on the tv when we didn't know what to watch anymore!" the hyper man finished, saying as he wiped an invisible tear off his cheek, "It was…beautiful!"

Sakura and Sasori then turned back to Deidara who tried crawling away from the two.

The other members were meanwhile taking a look at Sasuke who was still under Sasori's control. He simply glared at them all, especially Itachi.

Sakura was about to punch Deidara in the face, but was stopped by Sasori who then said,

"You'll have to excuse me Sakura, but we can't afford anymore damage on the lair."

Deidara then sighed in relief, but then suddenly screeched when Sasori swiftly stuck a poisened needle into his neck.

"It's easier to make him suffer slowly than kill him in a split second." Sasori said evilly, watching Deidara squirm.

"Sasori!" Sakura said, smacking her forehead in frustration as she said,

"Now I have to get the poison out of his body before he dies again, damn it!"

They then noticed that Sasuke had also fallen to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Oh yes…that's right. I also managed to hit him with one of my needles…" Sasori muttered, letting the chakra strings he had on Sasuke disappear.

Sakura then groaned in frustration, making all the members pick both Sasuke and Deidara up and take them down to the medical room.

Sasori then left the room, walking in the opposite direction, making her give him a puzzled look as she called out, "Where are you going?"

"The living room. I want to watch the part where you had your bath in Deidara's video."

"What!" she called out angrily. She then noticed a smirk plastered on his face as he quickened his pace.

She then screeched and ran forward, pushing him to the side as they both raced towards the living room,

completely forgetting about Deidara and Sasuke.


	12. Trust

**Well, here's the next chapter! PS. you guys are so awesome! Getting such nice reviews everyday make me feel so...**

**Sasori: Pathetic?**

**Swissgal16: NO!**

**Sasori: Unwanted?**

**Swissgal16: T_T**

**Sasori: *smirks***

**Sakura: *Smacks the back of Sasori's head* Sasori! **

**Sasori: *rubs the back of his head while scowling* what?**

**Deidara: Oh oh, a lovers' feud!**

**Sasori & Sakura: SHUT UP!**

**Swissgal16: PS. I still own NONE of the characters! **

Chapter 12: Trust

Sakura tossed and turned in bed as sweat dripped from her forhead. She was having the same nightmare that she had when she first came here, except…

_It was completely dark, and the only thing she could sense was the smell of blood._

_She shivered as she tried finding a way out of of the darkness, sighing when she saw a light up ahead. She ran towards it and eventually came upon something that she wished she could make disappear._

_All of her friends', family and teachers' mauled bodies lay before her, all lying together in a heap._

"_W-why?" she uttered._

_Tears flowed down her cheeks as she screamed, dropping to her knees as she cried out, "Why can't you just leave me alone! Sasori! Where are you!"_

_She put her face in her hands as she sobbed, not noticing the dark figure approaching her. She then felt a cold object lift her chin up._

"_Yes, my love?" it said, leaning forwards._

_She widened her eyes at it._

_It was Sasori in his puppet form once again, his touch was no longer warm, instead cold and hard as wood. She then gasped as he suddenly leaned forwards and forced a kiss upon her, making her try to get him to release her, but his grip was firm._

"_Why?" was all she could mutter. He looked back at her with cold eyes and brought her closer to him, in an almost affectionate embrace._

_Tears continued falling from, her face._

"_This is what you have always seen me as. And what I will become when I find out the truth." He said in a cold whisper._

_Her face twisted with confusement, but had no time to reply when he suddenly pulled his wooden arm piece off, stabbing her in the chest almost instantly. She gaped and watched the blood drip down from her chest and form a puddle beneath her. A small drop of blood also leaked from her lips, not going unnoticed by the puppet who leaned forward, licking the blood off of her mouth._

She gasped as she sat bolt-right up in the bed, heaving heavy sighs as she tried catching her breath.

"Th-that dream…" she muttered silently. Looking to the side to see Sasori still sleeping soundly, stirring only slightly as he turned over his side.

She then sighed, getting out of the bed as she quietly left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

She then leaned on it and slid to the floor, thinking about everything carefully.

"Trouble sleeping?" she suddenly heard a deep voice say.

She then looked up to see that it was Itachi, giving her a strange look.

She then turned her head away from him saying, "Nightmare, that's all…why are you up?"

He ignored her question and abruptly said, "You should tell him before my brother gets the chance to let your secret slip again."

She arched an eyebrow and then sighed, asking, "Why haven't you told anyone yet?"

"Having you around has proved interesting, and I'm merely curious about what you plan on doing before anyone really does find out."

She looked back down and then said, "I-I don't know what to do…I mean, the mission is basically completed if we send Sasuke back to Konoha, but…things have gotten kind of well, complicated here and I just-"

"It's been years since Sasori ever smiled, let alone shown affection towards anyone." He suddenly said, cutting her off.

He then turned around, walking back to his door as he said, "But be careful nevertheless, anything can happen."

Sakura couldn't stop staring at his now closed door, thinking hard as she made her decision. She then stood up and walked down the hallway, heading for Sai and Deidara's room.

Deidara was still downstairs in the medic room, unconscious like Sasuke, so she was glad that she wouldn't have to try keeping quiet when she entered.

She went up to him slowly and shook him slightly.

He stirred and pulled out a painbrush and paper while he was still sleeping and quickly drew a small bird which flew towards Sakura.

"_What the hell? He paints in his sleep?" _she thought, growling when the bird suddenly squirted ink in her face.

She wiped it off with the back of her sleeve and then pushed Sai over the bed, making him hit the ground with a soft thud.

He immediately opened his eyes then, mumbling in his sleep as he looked up to see Sakura standing infront of him with her hands on her hips.

"Not now, damn hag…" he mumbled, turning over.

She then grabbed his collar and dragged him out of the room, shaking him until he was fully awake.

"We need to talk Sai." She then said.

He was still a bit sleepy but nodded and followed her as they walked to the living room, where they were sure nobody would be around to over-hear their conversation.

They both sat on one of the couches and Sai waited patiently for her to speak.

"Sai…what do you think of it here..?" she then asked seriously.

He gave her a confused look and answered, "I-um, well…it's not bad. I kind of like it…"

She then looked down, trying to find the right words as she said, "Me too actually…but what about Konoha? And the mission?"

Sai thought for a moment saying, "This may sound crazy, but why don't we try forming an alliance with Akatsuki?"

"What?"

"Yes, an alliance. I mean, Akatsuki haven't been active up until now in the last two years, so they aren't exactly a threat to Konoha anymore…right?"

She nodded her head slightly, thinking hard about what he was saying.

"I suppose…but they're still dangerous." She said, looking down.

"Yes…but it's choice though, isn't it?" he then said thoughtfully.

She looked up at him, surprised at his answer.

"Our…choice?" she muttered.

"Yes, hag. It's our choice. We can make them send Sasuke back to the village, and I can send one of my birds to Tsunade telling her about the justsu that brought the Akatsuki members back to life. And once we've done that, our mission will be complete."

He then stared at her for a moment with his emotionless expression, waiting for her to reply.

"And after that…?" she uttered.

He sighed and answered, "We can either choose to stay with the Akatsuki, or go back to Konoha."

"…Naruto…we'll be leaving him alone. It would be too hard for him…I can't do that." she then said.

Sai then nodded, saying, "We can still be loyal to Konoha and keep in touch with him…maybe even make him come visit if that's even possible…but otherwise, what would you do with the thought of never seeing Sasori again, eh hag?"

She arched her eyebrows at this statement, taking in a deep breath as she thought carefully.

"_Never seeing Sasori again..? Well, I think that's kind of obvious, I mean, it may have only been about month since we joined, and Sasori sure as hell wasn't someone I expected to…well, fall for…but it's true. I really, actually, as much as I might regret it…I lov-"_

She was then cut off from her thoughts when someone suddenly burst through the door.

It was Tobi.

He was panting heavily like dog and sweat was dripping from his head.

"Sai! Sakura-chan! Come quickly! Itachi's brother is trying to kill my Senpai!" he whimpered, running forwards and hoping to get a comforting hug from one of them, but instead they both ran past him and headed downstairs.

By the time they got there, the medical room's door was already slightly open. Sakura took a deep breath and entered, gasping when she saw Sasuke on top of Deidara with his Katana against his neck.

Deidara was sweating, unable to move because of the after-effects of the poison from before. He looked to the side and saw Sakura and Sai nearing them.

Sasuke also looked up at them, his eyes flaring deep red.

"Stay back." He said in a deathly tone.

"S-Sasuke..?" she muttered.

"_How could he have healed so quickly after I removed the poison from his body..? It should have been another two days before he could move around..!" _she thought hurriedly, trying to come up with a plan.

"Sasuke, get away from Deidara. NOW." She said, growling as chakra began glowing around her fists.

Sai took out a parchment and his paint brush, getting ready to attack the Uchiha.

But before they could do anything, Pain, Kisame,Sasori, Itachi and Tobi appeared, along with Hidan and Kakuzu.

Zetsu's head was poking out of the ceiling, watching the entire scene.

"Sakura stand back and let us handle this." Sasori said, pulling a scroll out under from his sleeve.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, and said, "Get back! If any of you try anything, I won't hesitate to kill him."

"Brother, don't act so foolish. Now get away from him." Itachi said in a deep tone, stepping forward.

"Brother..? Don't make me laugh. Seeing you here makes me sick, which is why I came to eliminate you." Sasuke spat, glaring at the other Uchiha.

Sakura was beginning to get impatient and was about to charge when Sasuke focused his eyes on her, trying to catch her in one of his genjutsus but failed when she did the release sign.

His curse mark was beginning to spread all over his body, and he was still pressing his sword against Deidara's neck.

"Stay away from me Sakura. I'll only promise to let your 'companion' live, if…"

She stopped and then listened, not sure about what exactly he was implying.

"If you tell them truth…" He then said, smirking when he saw her facial expression change.

The Akatsuki members stared at them both, having confusion written all over their faces.

"The truth..?" she repeated, shaking as her heart began pounding rapidly.

"Yes, the truth. And after that, you must leave with me." He finished, continuing to smirk.

She gulped and then thought hard about what she should do.  
"Sakura, move out of the way, I can take care of him." Sasori said, not understanding what was being discussed but decided that the Uchiha had stalled her long enough.

She stood there for a prolonged moment and then slowly turned to look at him and the other members as they watched her.

"No, I'm sorry..Sasori." she then uttered, tears forming in her eyes.

"I wanted to tell you before, but I couldn't bring myself to do it…"

He stared at her with confusion written all over his face as he stepped forward.

"I'm sorry…so sorry. I-I never joined Akatsuki because I wanted revenge on the Leaf Village…I was sent on a mission to infiltrate the organisation and capture Sasuke." She finished, shaking slightly as Sasori stared at her.


	13. Just disappear

**Lord, where do I find time to write these new chapters?**

**Anyway, enjoy! And PS. ****If any of you have ANY random ideas for a SasoxSaku fic, then TELL ME!**

**And I'll then write down with which ever idea I find the most interesting, okay? **

**I'm running out of ideas, so I need some more inspiration from you guys!**

**Thanks again!^**

Chapter 13: Just disappear

She shook slightly as she stared at the ground, not wanting to meet his eyes after telling him the truth.

This was one of those moments that she just felt like she wanted to fade away and disappear...but unfortunately, in situations like this, that wasn't even possible.

"Listen, Sasori...I know I lied to you, but you have to understand! I was only following orders, and-" she was then cut off when her chin was lifted up abruptly. She widened her eyes as she stared into his flaring brown ones. "…following orders? This is a lie, isn't it?" he said softly but in a sharp tone.

Everyone stared at the scene, but Itachi was the one who felt the most surprised with her sudden action. _"Foolish brother…" _he thought, angrily glaring at the younger man who was grinning at the other two.

"I wish it was." Sakura then whispered as the tears began flowing freely down her face. His eyes only widened at her answer, and a mixture of confusion and anger began to form in his expression.

"…I know you must really hate me now…you deserve to, but you have to understand that I was willing to give up the mission for you!" she said desperately, putting her hand on his cheek gently.

He looked away, too confused and angry to look at her.

"So everything was lie, was it...?" he spat.

She gritted her teeth and angrily said back,

"No, Sasori! I may have lied about joining the organization, but everything else that happened wasn't fake!" she finished, shocked when he suddenly slapped her hand away.

She blinked at his action, her mouth slightly agape.

Sasori simply took a step back and looked to the side while saying in an emotionless tone, "Get out of my sight."

She closed her eyes for a moment, biting her lip and then said softly,

"I was willing to give up everything for you."

Sasuke then appeared behind her, grabbing her by the shoulders as he said,

"A deal's a deal, Sakura. Now let's go…" he whispered in a mocking tone. She clenched her teeth angrily and tried getting him to let go of her.

Sasori went over what she had just said to him before and looked back into her teary eyes, confused for a moment while thinking,

"_She was willing to give up everything she had...for me? I don't-I just can't..."_

He growled at himself when he couldn't find an answer and watched as Sasuke and her soon began disappearing.

"Sasori!" she cried out, getting one of her arms out of Sasuke's grip and reaching out for him.

"_I'm an idiot, after everything that's happened...even if she was only getting close to me for information, I still just-"_

He cut himself off and called out for her as he ran forward, reaching out for her.

She smiled once she felt his hand touch her own, even if it was too late to turn back now.

She then called out, "Sasori! Listen, I lov-"

And then she was gone.

He blinked as his hand was still reached out in the air, slowly pulling it back as his eyes widened. The others didn't say anything, and just kept quiet for awhile until Sasori slowly turned back to them.

Silence.

His expression was dark. He felt like the emotionless puppet he had been not too long ago now.

Pain then took a step forward saying, "Sasori, I never expected it to come to this, but you do remember what we discussed when they first joined...?"

Sasori just stared at the ground, strands of his red hair covered his eyes from their view.

"...yes..." he said numbly.

"Wait, wait, wait...what the fuck? You sad-asses are just gonna let her go!" Hidan then interrupted, glaring at the two.

"Tobi wants Sakura-chan to come back!" Tobi cried, bawling his eyes out.

"She was certainly interesting..." Zetsu said from above.

Konan frowned at the scene as she said, "Pain, are you serious about..?"

He then turned to her saying, "Yes. We already talked about this, and even if we all got somewhat attached to the girl, she betrayed us nevertheless. And Sai..." he finished, turning to the man who was standing at the side, still staring at the spot that Sakura had been in before.

But before Pain could say anything else, Sai's form suddenly turned into black ink and splattered onto the ground.

"A clone..?" Itachi whispered to himself.

"He must have gone after Sakura." Deidara suddenly piped up, slowly getting out of bed as he rubbed the wound on his neck from before.

"This could prove difficult, seeing as we have no idea about where the Uchiha could have gone..." Pain said, turning to leave the room until Itachi spoke up, "I think that I do, Pain-sama."

* * *

She blinked and slowly opened her eyes, not managing to make out the area around her seeing as it was so dark.

"Sakura..." a deep voice said among the darkness.

She then sat up and looked frantically around, realizing that her arms and legs were tied up.

"Where the hell are you?" she spat, angry that he had knocked her out, reminding her of the night that he had left. She growled lowly at the thought, clenching her teeth.

She then gasped when she felt herself being picked up all of a sudden. He then threw her over his shoulder and casually walked away.

She began cursing, kicking and pounding him on his back with her tied up wrists, realizing that all her chakra had been drained, meaning that she would be helpless for a while.

"Quiet." Sasuke then said in a deep tone, glaring her from the side with his glowing red eyes.

"What the hell do you want with me?" she then shouted angrily at him as he suddenly dropped her onto the ground inside a small room.

He didn't answer her but then shut the door behind him, turning to face her as a smirk crept upon his face.

"Finding my brother was my main objective...but after finding you amongst the Akatsuki...everything changed." He said, leaning against the ceiling as he watched her back up and try standing up.

"What the hell do mean 'everything changed'?" she spat angrily. "You left us you bastard! I joined so that I could find you, beat the crap out of you and send you back to Konoha, but now you resorted to threatening Deidara's life and forcing me to tell the damn truth! You ruined everything, you fucking-!"

She then stopped herself when she noticed that he had appeared right next to her, pinning her up against the wall as he said,

"Now, now...since when did you get so bad-mouthed, eh Sakura? If you were so commited to your mission, why did you care so much about that man's life being threatened?"

Her expression then darkened as she whispered in a chilling tone,

"I don't answer to anyone who dares to piss me off!"

His smirk then faded as he slowly released her saying, "Well, since you're being so brave all of a sudden, I might as well tell you what I'm going to do...or should I say, what _we're_ going to do..?"

Her eyes widened at this, understanding what he meant as she shouted, "You sick bastard! I'll kill you before you even touch me!"

He then smirked and said, "Itachi is one of the only obstacles standing in my way...but once he's dead, I can finally focus on reviving my clan..." he finished, looking right at her as he said the last part.

"Don't tell me you've actually gained feelings for that puppet?" he then spat, noticing that she was deep in thought, anger and confusion sweeping across her face.

He eyes then widened as she thought about how Sasori had looked when she had told him the truth...and how conused the others had been.

She lowered her gaze and slid down to the floor, letting a few tears trickle down her cheek.

Sasuke simply ignored this and then said, "You really have become pathetic, Sakura. But it's YOU who will help achieve my goals."

She then whipped her head back up to him and screamed out loud,

"I'd rather have you kill me than make me listen to all this crap you're saying! You really haven't changed at all either, have you Sasuke? You still use people to achieve your stupid goals, and then toss them aside once it's all over! Sasori was twice the man you'll ever be, even if we hated eachother in the beginning, he's the only man who ever ended up truly caring for me! Even if he hates me now, after everything that happened, I'll never give him up on him!"

Her eyes were red and stinging from all the crying and she continued cursing under her breath as the tears continued to fall.

Sasuke was completly shocked with her sudden outburst, but didn't show it at all as he walked forward.

She tried edging away from him, but gasped when he suddenly pulled her up roughly by her arms as he said,

"Watch your mouth. If you pull a stunt like that infront of me again, I'll have no choice but to torture your very being until you break."

She growled at him and then whispered in a deathly tone,

"Then do it. Throw everything you have at me. I'll be ready."

* * *

"Alright, Sasori. You know the plan, and as much as you might hate it, you HAVE to follow the orders I've given you, understood? Now repeat our main objective in the discussion we had while you were keeping watch over her in the past month..." Pain said, waiting for an answer.

Sasori just stood there, clenching his fists as he thought,_ "If I had known any of this would happen, I would've never gone through with this damn agreement..."_

He then looked back up at the man emotionessly as he said,

"If a new member joins the organization, the assigned room-mate, if keeping watch over them, finds out about their betrayal...they must eliminate that person by any means...necessary."


	14. An emotionless puppet

**God, you guys must HATE me for keeping you waiting for so lonnng!**

**I know I know...but I DO have a reason! (believe it or not) and it's called: school -_- **

**Yes, school. We've been having loads of exams in the past two weeks,so I've had literally NO time at all to write any new chapters.**

**So sorry about that..! But here it is, the long-awaited chapter...**

**Sasori: It's been two weeks, and you KNOW that I HATE waiting.**

**Swissgal16: *sweat drop***

**Sasori: ...you really are pathetic.**

**Swissgal16: T_T**

Chapter 14: An emotionless puppet

She closed her eyes and tried lying down on the hard floor, clenching her teeth whenever she thought about what Sasuke was going to do with her.

The room she was put in was rather small, along with no bed or windows. She had been waiting in there for two days...waiting for him to come back and _deal_ with her.

She received a bit of food every now and then from a man with spiky white hair and shark-like teeth.

She figured that he might have been one of Sasuke's members, since he fit the description that the ANBU squad had reported from one of their missions.

"I need to get out of here..!" she cursed under her breath, trying to free herself from the rope that was tied around her legs and wrists.

"_**Damn it! Where the hell is Sasori?"**_ inner Sakura shouted.

She then slowly got up again, standing up as she leaned against the cold wall. She then gritted her teeth as she thought back to what happened before.

"_Then again...why would he come looking for me? All I've done is lie to him and the others...I even lied to myself...thinking that I could stay with him in the organization."_

She pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them, closing her eyes. "

_Even if he did come for me, it would probably be just to..." _she let her words trail off as she put the thought aside, looking up when she saw the door open.

"Not planning on escaping...are we?" a cold voice suddenly said. She then blinked when the figure by the door suddenly disappeared, gasping when she was suddenly brought to her feet and pinned against the wall.

"So Sakura...have you thought about what I offered you?" he whispered in her ear, making her flinch until she suddenly felt him pressing his lips against her own. He continued to deepen it, without any of her consult. She widened her eyes at this and growled lowly, soon biting down onto his lip.

He grunted and pulled back, wiping the blood off of his mouth as he looked back to see her smirking evilly.

"Piss off." She scoffed, moving away from him a bit.

He scowled slightly at her action and moved forward saying, "You really have changed...pity."

She then glanced back towards him shouting, "Pity?"

The corners of his mouth moved upwards in a slight grin as he replied, "Yes...if you were the same person you were four years ago, it would've been easier convincing you to help me with my...mission."

"Mission? You damn well tried raping me a few seconds ago! How is that 'part' of a mission?" she shouted, growling lowly.

He then frowned again and pinned her against the wall again, saying, "Isn't it obvious..? In order to revive my clan...I'd need a suitable partner to help me. And as far as I know, you're the most powerful kunoichi in Konoha...which makes you an obvious candidate."

She gasped at this, realizing what he meant as she went over his words again.

"It's your choice...either help me, or else-" she then cut him off, saying,

"I wouldn't bother thinking it over..! You know very well what my damn answer is!"

He then frowned at this and made her face him as his sharingan blazed.

"Then I don't have any other choice." He said in a dark tone.

But before she could react, he suddenly grabbed her arm and threw her aside. Her body roughly hit against the other side of the wall. She clenched her teeth and cursed at him when she felt something drip from her mouth.

She looked down to see droplets of blood flowing down from her chin onto the floor.

"You sick bastard..!" she growled, struggling to stand up again until she felt him pushing her back down and straddling her to the floor. She tried pushing him away with her tied up wrists but scowled when he held them down over her head.

"Last chance. Help me revive my clan and kill Itachi...or die." He whispered in a deep tone.

* * *

"So you're actually gonna...do it Danna?" Deidara asked worriedly, watching as his partner gathered his battle puppets from the underground weaponry room.

Sasori didn't bother answering his question as he decided which puppets would be more suitable for the mission he was about to undertake.

"Hey...Danna! Are you even listening to me?" Deidara said as he grinded his teeth, scowling at the red-head who still had his back to him.

"Not at this moment. So shut up, brat." Sasori said in a cold tone, taking his mother and father puppets out of the shelf.

After he had found out about his grandmother's death after their battle from over two years ago, he had insisted that Pain retrieved them for him.

"Hn...this should do." He then said to himself, pulling out a scroll and making them disappear in a puff of smoke.

Deidara was still ranting at him, getting pissed off as Sasori continued to ignore him. He then walked up to Sasori and pulled his collar, making him turn to face him.

"Listen to me when I'm talking, damn it! Now tell me, what are you gonna do!" he shouted in his face.

"I see the effects of the poison hasn't worn off of you completely..." Sasori said with a frown.

Normally, Deidara would be reluctant to even stand up to his master, but that didn't seem to phase him at this moment.

"To hell with the damn poison! Answer me, damn it! Are you following Pain's orders, or not?" Deidara then shouted again, grunting when Sasori slapped his hands off of his collar.

"Getting involved with someone else's business isn't a clever thing to do, Deidara." He then said, walking away from the blonde.

"I know that she lied..! But she also saved me from getting killed by the damn Uchiha kid!"

Sasori still didn't reply, continuing to walk away.

Deidara then clenched his fists and glared as the man was about to leave the room then. He then lost his temper and shouted,

"Do you even know what she was trying to say before she left!"

Sasori paused in his steps and scoffed saying, "It was another lie."

"Just tell me one thing Danna...are you going to kill her or not?" Deidara then asked in a serious tone.

Sasori then glanced back slightly, looking back at the man with a cold look in his eyes as he replied, "Good bye. And don't forget that you also have a mission, brat."

He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"I swear, I'll kill you..!" Sakura growled as he forced her out of the room, dragging her down a dark hallway until he stopped infront one of the many doors.

"_Where the hell is he taking me..?" _she thought, letting a drop of sweat trickle down her face.

He then opened the door and led her through. It was completely dark, but he led the way with ease, pushing her down into the corner of the room as he said, "I don't want to waste my time convincing you to join me, Sakura."

He then did several hand signs and opened his eyes, revealing his sharingan as he put her into a genjutsu. She growled when she realized her hands were still tied up, making it impossible for her to do the release sign. She then turned her head away, trying not to look at him.

But it was too late.

She was already caught in the genjutsu.

She slowly opened her eyes and realized that she was floating in what seemed like the middle of space.

"W-where the hell am I?" she muttered, her voice echoing around her.

She then gasped when she felt someone's hand covering her mouth and pulling her backwards abruptly.

She then screamed when she realized that she was falling all of a sudden. Pictures of her friends suddenly flashed through her mind as she fell, making her scream louder.

Moments later, she opened her eyes, taking in everything when she noticed a figure standing abover her.

"Sakura..." the voice said. She immediately recognised it and looked up as she called out, "Sasori..! Wh-" he then cut her off and grabbed her by the neck, holding her up as she began struggling to breathe.

"It's time to repay me." He said in a dark tone, staring at her with cynical eyes which reminded her of a lifeless doll.

His hands were stiff and cold, making her gasp when she saw him wearing the all-too familiar dark brown cloak, along with his puppet body underneath it.

Her eyes widened and her body shivered.

It was just like her other dreams.

He was going to kill her.

"Sasori...no, no! This is a genjutsu! Those weren't dreams before! Sasuke must of put me under his genjutsu all those other times! But how!" she cried out, letting the tears flow down freely as she gripped tightly onto Sasori's wooden arm.

He smirked slightly and then said,

"After I found out about your lies...I decided to rid myself of those troublesome emotions and turn into what I truly am. A _puppet_."

He spat the last word and began to tighten his grip on her neck.

She clenched her teeth after hearing this, screaming out of fear.

Even though she was aware that this was all a genjutsu, she was actually scared.

"Tell me what you're thinking right now...my love." He said darkly as he watched her choke.

* * *

Sasuke grinned as he watched her scream, throwing her head backwards in pain and agony.

"I can make it all go away, Sakura. All I need, is for you to say _yes_." He then whispered in her ear, watching as she took deep breaths.

She then shook her head, biting her lip as her tears flowed down her slightly dirty face. Her hair was a mess, and she was still completely low on chakra.

He frowned at her answer and decided to make her suffer even more in the genjutsu.

But before he could do anything, the door was suddenly flung wide open, revealing his teammate, Suigetsu who was panting heavily like a dog as he said,

"Sasuke! Juugo and Karin are unconscious! One of the Akatsuki bastards took them out, and he's still somewhere around the base..!"

Sasuke cursed under his breath saying, "Find him, and when you do, tell me where he-"

He then cut himself off and widened his black eyes slightly when Suigetsu suddenly collapsed to the ground.

He then took a step back when he saw a terrifying wooden puppet appear in the doorway, clattering as it slowly entered.

"Damn it!" he said angrily, turning to see that Sakura was still in the middle of the genjutsu he had cast on her. She then suddenly began screaming, calling Sasori's name out in fear.

The puppet then paused after this and turned to look at her. Sasuke simply stared, slowly pulling his katane out of it's sheath.

"I thought those were her screams..." a dark voice said out of nowhere, making Sasuke flinch slightly.

"Show yourself." Sasuke then said, activating his sharingan as he waited for the puppeteer to appear.

"Hn...I really do hate waiting. So I'll finish this quickly." The voice then said.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow when the puppet then disappeared.

He kept his guard up as he moved towards Sakura, coming up with a plan as he waited for the Akatsuki member to make his move.

"_Where the hell is he..?" _he asked himself.

He then widened his eyes and pulled his katane out when two puppets appeared infront of him.

"Meet mother...and father." Sasori's voice rang out.

* * *

Her neck was black and blue from the bruises he had caused from strangling her.

She then sat up and coughed up blood as she breathed heavily.

The emotionless puppet was standing further away from her now, opening his cloak and grinning slightly when she looked up at him with fear and anger in her eyes.

The cord in his stomach slowly uncoiled itself and revealed the poison dripping from it.

"Goodbye...little girl." he then said darkly, hiding his eyes from her view as he thrust the cord out of himself, flying towards her as she watched it in terror.

She then smiled for a moment and chuckled slightly as she waited for the pain to come, saying,

"I'm sorry...Sasori.

Maybe I really do deserve this. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

Puppet or no puppet...I still love you."


	15. Defeat

**YESSS! ANOTHER CHAPTER! Plus it's almost holiday! ;D**

**And if you guys go check out my profile, it'll also have some links to see some really **

**AWESOME SasoXSaku vids!**

**Seriousy!**

**And PS. Thanks for all the reviews!**

Chapter 15: Defeat

"I'm sorry...Sasori. Maybe I really do deserve this. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Puppet or no puppet...I still love you." She said, smiling as she watched the poisoned cord shoot towards her.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, waiting for it all to be over.

Several seconds went by...nothing.

She waited a bit longer and then opened her eyes, gasping when she saw the spear of the cord inches away from her face.

"W-what..?" she muttered, confused that she hadn't been impaled yet.

"Sakura..." the Sasori in the genjutsu said, recoiling the cord as he slowly took several steps towards her. She blinked in confusion, not understanding what was happening.

"_Th-this is supposed to be one of Sasuke's genjutsus...but why is this Sasori..?" _she thought hurriedly, gulping as her heart began racing.

"Sakura..." he said again, standing infront of her.

"Sasori?" she uttered, slightly hesitant.

"Thank you." He then said, keeping his eyes hidden from her view with his red hair.

She arched her eyebrows at his sudden statement saying, "Why? All those other times when I was dreaming? You're aren't going to..?"

He then hushed her, and she gasped when everything around them both began to fade away into black. Sasori's wooden body began to fade away along with it, but he then looked back up at her, smiling sadly as he said,

"It's time for you to go."

He then reached forwards and stroked her cheek gently. She widened her eyes at his action and stepped forward, kissing him softly on the cheek. It was cold and hard as wood, but she didn't mind.

He glanced back at her and smirked as she watched him completely fade away into darkness.

And before she knew it, she was falling again.

But she didn't scream this time, instead, she closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

* * *

"Damn it...my genjutsu is fading.." Sasuke thought angrily, trying to ward off the two puppets' attacks. They both then put their hands together, pulling apart as a number of wire strings came out, attached to eachother. They both then flew forwards and swiftly tried capturing him.

He somehow managed to dodge and growled when his katane broke against the wires. He then did several hand signs and released a ball of fire towards them both.

The two puppets then flew upwards, escaping the fire as they charged towards Sasuke with a sword in either wooden hand.

He cursed as they neared him, and began forming his chidori in his hands. Once he did that, he leapt forwards and attacked them both at the same time.

* * *

She coughed and strained to move after she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, but she could just make out Sasuke's figure standing in the middle of the room.

"What the hell is-!" her words were then muffled when a cold and hard hand clasped itself over her mouth, pulling herself backwards. She growled when she realized that she was then trapped in what seemed to be some kind of wooden prison.

That was when it hit her.

She widened her eyes and muttered, "Sasori's here? Wait! This is the same puppet that he used to capture Tobi that one...time." her eyes twitched at the last part, remembering that this particular puppet was the one used to suffocate it's victims.

"Damn it! He really is here to kill me!" she moaned, lowering her head. She then glanced upwards and smirked when she suddenly felt that her chakra was returning. She then focused on it and managed to break through the ropes that were tied to her wrists and legs.

She grinned at this but then flinched when she felt the bruises on her body. It was completely dark in the puppet she was trapped in, but she wasn't sure if she should try breaking out of it or not. She then began to lose her patience as she heard the sound of the fight continue.

She then lost it after several minutes and shouted,

"Sasori! You better be out there! I understand if you're here to kill me, but I sure as hell don't want to die in one of your damn puppets!"

Sasori chuckled slightly in his hiding place and decided to make his big entrance.

Unfortunately, Sasuke had managed to damage his favourite puppets. So he made them both disappear in a puff of smoke, making Sasuke stare in confusion.

"Like I said...I want to get this over with as soon as possible." Sasori's voice rang out.

Sasuke then gritted his teeth when he saw Sasori suddenly appear infront of him, smirking slightly.

His brown eyes were calm, and there was hardly a scratch on him, seeing as it was his puppets who received the damage.

Sasuke was already low on chakra, which worried him slightly as he tried figuring out how take the puppeteer down.

Sasori's calm eyes then travelled to the right, arching an eyebrow at his puppet which was now holding Sakura captive. She was banging her fists on it from the inside, and cursing continuously.

He then shook his head and looked back at the Uchiha.

"I've never fought an Uchiha before...except for the brief fight we had. But even after that, I was able to make an analysis of your skills..." He then said.

Sasuke scoffed and then did several hand signs, making over ten kunais appear. He twirled them in his hands and threw them towards Sasori.

Sasori began ducking with ease, but was then startled when he was hit right in the chest.

Sasuke smirked at his perfect aiming, but then frowned when Sasori's figure turned to sand. "A clone..." he muttered angrily, turning around in a swift motion as he expected Sasori to attack from behind.

"Sasori! I swear! I can't breathe, damn it!" Sakura shouted from the inside of the puppet, banging on it again.

Sasuke turned to look at it and growled as he ran towards it, ready to destroy the puppet and get Sakura out.

"_I still need her..!"_ he thought.

But he was then caught off guard when he felt something suddenly prick his neck. He looked down and cursed when he saw the needle sticking out. He pulled it out and tried to ignore the numbness his body was beginning to feel.

He then continued to run forward, forming a chidori in his hands as he jumped upwards and prepared to slam it into the wooden puppet.

Meanwhile, Sasori released his chakra strings from above and moved the puppet aside.

He then smirked as the Uchiha stumbled and instead, destroyed the entire floor with his attack. Rocks were flying everywhere, and the ground was completey cracked.

He tried standing up, clenching his teeth when he realized that his body was now completey numb.

"I woudn't try standing up if I were you. The more you try to move, the quicker the posion spreads." Sasori then said, standing infront of him now as he stared down at the helpess Uchiha.

Sasuke cursed under his breath and then closed his eyes for a moment.

"SASORI!" Sakura screamed from the puppet. He coud hear her coughing from within and then shrugged for a moment, twitching his fingers sightly as the puppet then opened fully. Her limp body fell onto the ground.

She was unconscious, but he figured that it would be better this way.

He then looked back at Sasuke who was breathing heavily.

He frowned and then said, "I'm going to do a favour for you, Uchiha."

Sasuke lifted his head up slightly, growling lowly at the puppeteer.

"I'll return you to Konoha, and let them deal with you instead." He then said lazily, making one of his puppets appear and throw Sasuke onto it's shoulder.

He then turned around and walked towards Sakura, picking her up slowly as he stared at her somewhat peaceful face. He then frowned slightly, still feeling reluctant to carry out his real 'mission'.

"There's no way around it." He then muttered, taking Sasuke with them as he left the base.

Meanwhile...

"Damn it...why do I have to kill him, yeah?" Deidara asked himself in an annoyed tone as he followed Sai's footprints in the sand. "That damn Pain..! Why the hell is he leader anyways? All he does is watch soap operas and order us around, yeah."

He then stumbled over a rock and fell face-first into the hot sand. He then cursed out loud and flinched when the wound on his neck began to hurt.

He then sighed and thought back to when Pain gave him his new mission...

* * *

"_Deidara. I believe that you also remember what your mission is...seeing as Sasori has gone after Sakura Haruno." Pain said, sitting at the end of the long meeting room's table, while Deidara sat at the other end, lazily tapping his fingers on it._

"_Yeah, yeah...but why me?" he then asked grumpily._

"_Because you were told to share the same room, and keep an eye on him. Are you defying my orders..?" Pain then replied impatiently._

_Deidara then gulped when he saw his leader's rinnegan flaring._

"_Erm..yeah, right. Fine, I'll do it already! But why do I have to kill him?" _

_Pain sighed and repied angrily, "BECAUSE, as I said, both he and Sakura have gained a decent amount of information about the Akatsuki. Which is why they must be eliminated."

* * *

_

"Uggh...I wonder if Sasori killed her yet..." he asked himself as he stood up again, growling when the wind blew sand into his face.

He then carried on walking and noticed that there was a large rock standing in the middle of the desert. He curiously walked over to it and widened his eyes when he heard a snoring sound coming from behind it.

He snuck up to it and looked over, surprised when he saw Sai's sleeping form lying there.

"He must have been trying to look for Sakura..." he muttered to himself, pulling out some clay as he prepared one of his bombs.

He then paused before he attampted to kill Sai, thinking carefully.

"_Damn it...I know what I have to do...but I don't wanna do it, yeah...I mean, sure the guy can be clueless and weird sometimes, but he's been like a brother to me, yeah!" _

A drop of sweat rolled down his forhead as he closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.

"_We trimmed hedges together...we spied on Sasori and Sakura making out together...we even exploded things together!" _he then turned around and began tearing up as he thought back to all of those moments he and Sai had together.

But as he was deep in his thoughts, he hadn't notice that Sai had woken up and was now standing behind him.

Deidara then made a decision and turned around, pulling Sai into a hug suddenly. Sai widened his eyes at Deidara's action and then asked worriedly,

"Deidara...are you...gay?"

"Hell no!" Deidara then shouted, pulling away from him as he smirked saying,

"I was actually here to kill you, yeah. But I decided not to anymore. Besides, you're the only guy that I can relate to! Plus you're the only guy that also likes to make fun of Itachi!"

Sai then arched an eyebrow saying, "Who..? You mean Dickless?"

"Yeah! That's right!"

Deidara then put his arm around Sai's shoulder while grinning as he said, "And from now on, I'm gonna help you find your teammate, yeah!"

Sai arched his eyebrows and then asked, "But you're going against Pain's orders...doesn't that mean you'd have to leave the Akatsuki?"

Deidara then pondered for a moment saying,

"Pretty much...but who cares? he's an ass, yeah."

Sai then quickly pulled out his book and flipped through the pages carefully. Deidara gave him a confused look and asked him what he was doing.

Sai then smirked slightly when he found the page he was looking for:

_**How to thank a friend for helping you in difficult situations**_

_**1. If your friend happens to be male, playfully shove his shoulder and thank him.**_

He then did as it said and said thank you to Deidara who still had a puzzed expression on his face.

"Yeah...no probem! Now let's go before Danna finds Sakura..." Deidara then said.

Sai then widened his eyes, suddenly worried about his teammate.

Deidara noticed his change in mood as they mounted onto his clay bird. He then grinned saying,

"Don't worry about her, yeah! My Danna is softer than you think..."

He then thought back to all the times that Sasori had mercilessly defeated him in all their spars, leaving him fatally injured each time...and the way that his Danna always looked once he had won was so terrifying that it sent chills down his spine.

"I think." He finished while gulping.


	16. The fool

***Drumroll***

**New chapter! Yessss! Lord, this chapter was hard to write! **

**But I decided to make it a bit longer for you guys, so enjooooyyyy^^ **

**PS. Thank you once again for all the reviews! **

**I'm pretty damn lucky that I have you guys ;D**

Chapter 16: The fool

"Where the hell am I this time..?" she mumbled, opening her eyes slowly as she tried moving her body.

She then shifted herself a bit, realizing that someone was sitting next to her.

Her eyes then opened fully and she looked to the side to see Sasuke tied up and leaning against a tree trunk.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was slightly ragged.

She then slowly sat herself up, noticing that she was also tied up.

She groaned in irritation and tried breaking through the ropes by using her chakra, but failed as she tried doing so.

"_Damn it…my chakra's drained! Did he block it from entering my body or something..?"_ she thought while clenching her teeth.

She then looked upwards, surprised when she saw that they were in the forest of death, not far off from where Konoha was.

"_But…where's Sasori? Is he planning something?"_ she then asked herself quietly as her mind began racing.

"I wouldn't try moving if I were you." A deep voice whispered in her ear, making her gasp as she felt the hairs on her neck stand up.

"S-Sasori?" she uttered, feeling scared for some reason.

Her eyes then widened when she saw him appear right in front of her.

There was a rather solemn look on his face as he glared down at her shivering body.

She then swallowed the lump in her throat as she asked quietly,

"Why did you bring me here?"

He then frowned and looked away for a moment showing a hint of anger flicker through his brown eyes.

He then looked back down at her and took a step forward, kneeling down to her level so that their faces were centimeters away from eachother.

He stared into her eyes for a prolonged moment and said in a deathly tone,

"I brought you here to meet your death."

It was as if time had frozen at that moment for Sakura.

She choked a sob back and looked down, too angry and upset took back at him.

He watched her action for a moment and then lifted her chin up, moving forward as he slowly licked away the tears that fell down her cheeks.

She blinked in confusion and saw a hint of evil mischief in his eyes as he said,

"I _did _say at the beginning that if you betrayed us, it would be either me or Pain who would eliminate you…but…," his look then darkened as he hid his eyes from her view with the strands of red hair that covered them, saying in a whispered tone,

"But it's more of a _personal_ thing now."

He then raised his head to meet her eye-level again, glaring at her with pure hatred in his eyes as he spat,

"Pathetic, aren't I? To think I actually fell for that act of yours. These emotions you talked to me about…really are useless. You said that they were what made a human strong, but as far as I can tell, they're nothing but useless obstacles to overcome which is why…" he then paused, putting his hand against her cheek as he slowly stroked her skin in a caressing way, but then said,

"Which is why I've decided to return to my original form…and make you a part of my beautiful collection." He finished, grinning slightly at her petrified face.

A drop of sweat dropped from her forhead, and her eyes continued to hold confusion and fear in them.

"Your…original form? You mean…" she then muttered in a fearful tone. He nodded at her realization and finished her sentence saying,

"I _mean _becoming a puppet again."

Meanwhile…

"Deidara…do you even know where we're going?" Sai asked in an irritated tone as the blond continued declaring that he knew exactly were they were.

They were still flying in one of Deidara's clay birds which seemed to be going around in circles.

"Uh, yeah course I do! I'm not an idiot, yeah." He replied, looking away so that Sai wouldn't see his less confident face.

"_Shit, where the hell are we?" _he thought as they looked down to see that they had somehow reached the sea, seeing as they were surrounded by ocean water.

They then flew downwards a bit, staring into the deep blue waters.

Deidara leaned over a bit, not noticing a black-like sail swim past them.

"Deidara, I think we should turn back. We were in a desert two hours ago, I don't see how we could have reached the sea…" Sai then said, pulling out some ink and paper.

Deidara continued to lean towards the water, but then widened his eyes when a giant creature leaped from within the water towards him.

"SHARK! GET ME THE HELL OUTTA HERE SAI!" he screamed, jumping into Sai's arms as he held his neck in a suffocating way.

The shark then fell back into the water, making a huge amount of water splash onto them.

The clay bird then rocked back and forth-and seeing as Deidara had forgotten to control it with his chakra, it soon fell hard down onto the ocean water, causing the two men to scream when they hit the surface, holding onto eachother for support as they strained not to fall over the side.

But luckily, the bird simply floated on the water, making them both sigh in relief.

Sai then frowned and dropped Deidara down with a thud.

"Baka." He then said to Deidara.

"Hey! Come on that thing was huge, yeah!" Deidara then muttered, shaking a bit as he stared back down at his drenched form.

Sai then scowled to see that the piece of paper in his hands was completely soaked and his ink was splattered everywhere.

"Great…Deidara, you'll have to make another clay bird for us." He then said.

Dediara simply gulped as he fiddled with his fingers for a moment, earning a confused look from Sai.

"Erm…yeah about that. You see…" he then opened his bag, which usually held his clay, showing it to Sai .

Sai's calm, emotionless face was soon twisted into a look of anger and confusement as he shouted,

"YOU BAKA! You didn't bring any extra clay with you? You mean to tell me that the last bit of clay was used for this thing?" he finished, stomping on the wet, sticky clay bird they were still on.

"Um…yeah?" Deidara managed to utter with a small, awkward chuckle.

He glared down at Deidara's shrinking form and then took in a deep breath as he turned to look around them.

He then turned back to Deidara and suddenly had an idea, soon having a menacing aura surround him, making Deidara flinch.

"Take off your clothes." Sai then said.

"What the hell, Sai?" Deidara shouted back, his eyes widened.

* * *

"You can't be serious Sasori…I understand when you want to kill _me, _but don't be foolish enough to turn yourself into one again!" Sakura then shouted, glaring at him angrily with her blazing blue-green eyes.

He then scowled at her, replying as he said,

"Emotions are pathetic. They weaken humans."

Tears strained to fall from her eyes, but she forced them away as she screamed,

"Are you oblivious or just plain stupid, Sasori! Emotions are what make us humans, and they're also what make us strong! I love you damn it! Kill me, but don't turn yourself into a goddamned puppet again! Please!"

She then lowered her head down, crying and cursing at him the entire time.

A flash of regret showed in his eyes, but it was barely noticeable.

He then got up and turned around, walking away as he said,

"Don't bother trying to escape. My strings are attached to you, so I'll know if you try anything." He said in a low tone disappearing from the area.

Sakura continued to curse under her breath, letting the tears fall down as her eyes turned red.

"_Why do I have to cry so much..? It's true…I really am pathetic. Firstly, I fail my mission, secondly, I fall for an S-ranked criminal, and thirdly, I end up being a damn emotional wreck!" _she thought angrily, closing her eyes as she tried to compose herself.

"I'm sorry." She suddenly heard a deep voice say.

She slowly looked up to her right, widening her eyes when she saw Sasuke wide-awake and slowly scooting closer towards her.

"Sas-uke." She uttered, not entirely sure if she understood what he was doing.

He then sat right next to her, flinching when he felt his left arm stinging from one of the wounds that Sasori had caused him during their fight.

"Really…I am sorry." He then muttered, looking away from her.

She then sighed, scooting a bit closer to him as she moved her slightly free hand onto his arm, letting the smallest amount of chakra she had, glow onto the wound as it began healing itself.

He flinched as she healed his arm, watching her concentrated face as he tried figuring out why she was even helping him.

"I won't forgive you for what you did before. But…" she then uttered, pulling her hand away from his arm as she leaned against the trunk behind her.

He stared at her with confusion as she continued.

"But you were my comrade once...and seeing as I'm going to be killed soon anyways, I might as well have done something a little useful for you." She said, smiling a little bit as she thought back to when they were genin.

It seemed so long ago now, and she wished that she could've enjoyed those times more than she did.

Sasuke then sighed, suddenly feeling terrible for what he had done, or at least tried to do to her before.

"You never were useless, Sakura." He then said with a small smile as he leaned back as well, looking into her eyes.

"You always tried to be there for me and Naruto. Having someone there to support you is something I never often got to have when I was younger but thanks to you…"  
he then trailed off, not understanding why he was being so nice to her all of a sudden.

She stared at him for a moment and smiled saying,

"Everyone really misses you."

He then glanced back at her, holding a hint of sadness in his eyes, which he failed to hide from her.

He was feeling very awkward all of a sudden, not sure about why, but being in the situation they were both in, he had no choice but to deal with it.

Sakura's smile then faded as she thought back to Sasori, hiding her eyes from him as her strands of hair covered them.

"Sasuke…you really were the one who cast all those genjutsus on me while I was in Akatsuki, weren't you?" she then asked in a deathly tone.

He blinked and stared at her with a slightly puzzled face as he replied,

"I only cast that one genjutsu on you after I captured you."

She then glanced back up at him, widening her eyes for a moment as realization hit her.

She then clenched her teeth together and growled lowly, punching the ground beneath her with her restrained arm.

Sasuke then widened his eyes as he watched the ground crack in several places after this, and then smirked slightly saying,

"Even when your chakra has been drained…you still still have so much power in you."

She didn't even bother replying to his comment as she then shouted upwards,

"Damn it Itachi! You were the bastard who put me in all those damn genjutsus whenever I went to sleep! Let me guess, you were trying to test my loyalty to Sasori and the Akatsuki?" she finished in a sacrastic tone.

"Well, have I proved myself to you? Are you happy now, you sick bastard!" she then finished angrily.

Sasuke stared at her boiling form, not sure if he should be surprised or afraid of her sudden outburst.

"My brother…?" he then muttered in a serious tone. She whipped her head back to him saying angrily,

"Yeah, after I joined, I started getting nightmares about Sasori…killing me in his puppet form." She said shakily, letting fear strike her again.

"Really..? I suppose that's why you were so upset before…but Sakura, answer one thing for me…" he finished, looking down with a small amount of jealously in his eyes.

She stared at him for a moment, asking,

"What?"

He then turned back to her, looking at her with those cold eyes he had always had.

"Why do you care about him so much? Akasuna no Sasori, I mean." he then asked, waiting for her to answer him.

But as they conversed, neither of them seemed to notice Sasori's dark figure watching and listening to them intently from a distance.

* * *

Sakura blinked for a moment, not sure about why he was asking such a thing and simply leaned her head back against the tree as she thought carefully for a moment, saying,

"It was hard for me to understand at first…but…he's the first man who ever really showed feelings towards me."

Sasuke then slowly looked away, remembering that he was always so cold towards her when they were younger.

"Ironic isn't it? Everyone claimed that he was the same emotionless puppet he used to be, but the truth is…he's actually an amazing person. A real…gentleman. A little childish somethimes…but a gentleman." She finished with a small giggle, sighing happily as she looked upwards thinking back to the times they shared together...

* * *

"_So, what are you going to do now? Kill me?" she asked._

_Sasori huffed and then took a step back, saying, _

_"Believe me, there's nothing better that I'd rather be doing right now. But I'm a little busy, and you know how much I hate to keep others waiting."_

_

* * *

_

"_Now show me." He said, stopping and turning to face her with a serious expression on his face._

"_What? you mean now?" she questioned, feeling nervous again._

"_Yes, I won't repeat myself."_

_She huffed at this, and then took a step forward, glaring at him straight in the eye._

"_Fine." She said._

_She then stood on her toes and moved closer to his face. _

_Sasori's facial expression soon became twisted, not understanding what she was doing, but before he could back away, he felt her lips lightly pressing against his own.

* * *

_

_She then marched out of the room to face him, wearing only a towel and shouting in his face, _

_"I told you to KNOCK! You can't even give me any bit privacy, damn it!" she finished while holding up her fist to him. _

_He stood where he was and was about to reply when they both noticed that nearly all the Akatsuki members including Sai were watching them. _

"_What the hell are you all looking at?" the two shouted simultaniously, glaring at them all.

* * *

_

"_I really do hate being interrupted…" Sasori said lazily pulling her closer to his warm body._

_Her eyes widened and her cheeks began turning pink as he did this, but she then glared at him saying, _

_"Do you do this to all the women you meet?"_

_He then chuckled and replied, saying, "No…you're the first."

* * *

_

_Sasori still hesitated for a moment, but then, they both suddenly moved forward at the same time, locking in eachother's lips. _

_They deepened it after a few seconds, along with Sakura putting her arms around his neck as he gently held her close to his body. _

"_Woohoo!" Deidara and Tobi shouted, cheering Sasori and Sakura on while they jumped up and down on Deidara's clay bird.

* * *

_

Sakura smiled at the memories and closed her eyes for a moment, slowly drifting off into a slumber.

Sasuke stared at her sleeping form and smiled sadly, thinking,

_"I really am a fool..."_

**In the meantime...**

"Sai give me back my damn shirt!" Deidara shouted as he held on tightly to the clay bird.

All of Deidara's clothes (except for his underwear) were now in the form of a giant sail, helping them drift across the ocean waters.

Sai held them up and glared back at Deidara saying,

"The sail still isn't big enough..!"

Deidara then gulped, sweat dripping from his forhead as he looked down, shouting,

"HELL NO, SAI! Use you're your own damn clothes, yeah!"


	17. With or without you

**I was in a good mood today, so I decided to put up a new chapter! **

**PS. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! ;D ;D**

**Thank you for all the reviews and support guys! Ur all so awesome!**

**So yeah, I can't wait to see what this new year brings, and I hope to write A LOT more stories in future^**

**So, Enjoy! ;D**

Chapter 17: With or without you

"_A…gentleman..? Is that really what she thinks of me?"_ Sasori pondered, leaning against the tree as he lazily sat there on the branch, watching Sasuke and Sakura from above.

"_No. Just another lie."_ He then thought angrily, closing his eyes as he thought hard.

"_But why would she even say those things to the Uchiha? Are they actually close?"_

He then clenched his teeth, feeling the sudden urge to kill the black-haired man.

He then released one of his chakra strings downwards, catching hold of one of the puppets he had left at the bottom.

He then flicked his fingers effortlessly as the puppet stood up going over to where Sakura was sleeping, making it grab hold of her.

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes when she felt something get a hold of her arms, looking upwards to see one of Sasori's puppets picking her up.

"What the-" she said, finishing her sentence with muffled words as it put it's hand over her mouth.

It then lifted her up and flew upwards into the tree, towards where Sasori was sitting.

She continued to attempt getting it to let go of her until it suddenly propped her onto a large branch.

She stared as it then went back down, sitting herself up properly as she awkwardly tried getting into a more comfortable position.

"What is your relationship with that Uchiha?" she then heard a low voice say, making her glance towards where he was, staring at him with her flaring eyes.

"Sasori…" she then muttered with a low growl, turning her head away from him as if to annoy him…which it did.

He growled when she refused to look back at him saying,

"Answer the question, Haruno."

She then widened her eyes, clenching her teeth as she spat,

"None of your damn business!"

She still didn't turn around, making him frown again, growling at her childish action.

"Now tell me why the hell you put me up here!" she then said, anger still emminant in her voice.

"I'll answer your question once you answer mine." He then said, stubbornly looking away from her figure.

"Forget it then…so are you going to poison me or stab me? Which is is going to be?" she then asked with slight fear in her voice as she glanced back at him for a moment.

He turned to look at her as well, feeling his heart wrench when he saw the sadness and fear in her eyes show.

"Well..?" she then asked impatiently.

"I haven't decided. I'll probably only do after I've turned myself into a puppet first." He said emotionlessly.

She bit her bottom lip, turning herself around to look him straight in the eyes as she said in a deep tone,

"I won't let you."

He arched an eyebrow at her sudden change in mood and answered back,

"That's what I hate. Emotions. They control the very being, breaking us until the very end."

She then clenched her teeth and shouted,

"Cut that crap!"

He then scowled and moved towards her, lowering his head to her eye level as he said,

"You've still got such a bad mouth…little girl."

"Asshole..!" she retorted back angrily.

"Child." He said, leaning closer to her.

"Emotionless jerk!"

"Emotional girl."

"Overly-confident ass!"

"Immature kid."

"PUPPET!" she then shouted in his face, making him give her a puzzled face as he asked,

"Why would you call me that when I haven't even become one yet?"

"Because Pain is controlling you like one! And you're letting him use you, damn it!" she said back angrily.

He then rolled his eyes saying,

"You really are…annoying."

She was about to open her mouth to shout back at him again but gasped when he suddenly pulled her towards him, pressing his lips hard against hers.

She took a few seconds to understand what he was doing, but then complied, kissing back as she leaned into him.

"Jerk…" she muttered during the kiss.

She felt his mouth curve upwards in a smirk as he muttered back,

"Loud mouth."

She then blushed when he began kissing her down her neck slowly, but gently.

"Control freak…" she then said teasingly as he lifted his head to glare at her.

"Am I..?" he whispered in a dark tone, kissing her on the corners of her mouth while he untied the ropes around her at the same time.

"Sakura, where are you?" they suddenly heard a voice call out from beneath them.

Sasori frowned as he pulled away from her, dropping the ropes over the side of the tree.

He then smirked and chuckled a bit when he looked over the side to see it hit Sasuke on the head, making the black-haired man curse out loud.

"Sasori!" Sakura shouted, hitting the back of his head.

He flinched and scowled at her for ruining his small victory over the Uchiha.

Sakura then sighed at his childish act, surprised that whenever they fought, they always ended up…making up in the end.

She then made him face her, holding a sincere look on her face as she said,

"Sasori, listen, I just wanted to apologize to you again for-"

"I'm also sorry…for scaring you before." He said, cutting her in.

She smiled a bit and then asked,

"But, so what now? You were ordered to kill me, but if you go back on your word…then what?"

He arched an eyebrow at her comment, thinking hard about their current situation.

He then huffed and said,

"Pain is a mindless, self-centered man…I could care less about what he thinks. Besides…now that I know how much you _love _ me…" he trailed off, smirking at her evilly as she glared back, "I've decided to leave the organization."

She then widened her eyes in surprise, pulling him into an embrace.

He hesitated for a moment at her sudden action but then soon relaxed.

"Wait…were you listening in on me and Sasuke's conversation last night?" she then asked during it, beginning to squeeze him a little hard when she questioned him this.

He bit his lip for a moment, replying,

"That's beneath me Sakura, of course not."

_"Yeah, right." _she thought.

She then smiled and accepted it, pulling away from him.

"But…you do realize that you're _mine _from now on…right?" he then asked coyly, chuckling when she blushed slightly, sending him an irritated look.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…but as long as we're together…don't even think about turning to yourself into a puppet. Otherwise I'll do the same thing I did to you in our last fight…" she finished with a small grin.

He then shivered slightly, thinking back, but then composed himself standing upright.

"I'm alright Sasuke! I'll be down in a minute!" she then called out, making the black-haired man look upwards to see Sasori by her side.

"What are you doing with him?" he then asked out loud in a slightly furious voice.

Sasori then pulled Sakura to his chest and jumped down from branch to branch until they landed infront of him.

"Do you really want to know…Uchiha?" Sasori then said with an evil smirk.

Sasuke scowled at him and stared at Sakura who wasn't tied up anymore.

"There's been a change in plans Uchiha..." Sasori then said.

Sasuke arched his eyebrows and then angrily said, "So you still plan on killing her then..?"

Sakura then shook her head, saying, "No, Sasuke. He isn't going to..."

He then gave her a confused look, not understanding what exactly was going on.

"Can you tell me why..?" he then asked in a curious tone.

"It's a long, complicated story. But Sasuke, I know you might still not like the idea of seeing Naruto and the others again, but this was also part of my mission from before, so we'll still drop you off in Konoha."

He then widened his eyes, glaring at her for a moment as he spat,

"And you? So are you just going to stay with him! Don't you even remember that he was planning on killing you! And now all of a sudden, you're staying together?"

Sasori then frowned slightly at him, saying,

"You know nothing about what goes on between us, Uchiha, so mind your own damn business. Besides, you're not in a position to make decisions."

Sasuke then growled at him, trying to stand up, which he somehow managed, standing face to face with Sasori as they both glared at eachother.

"I won't let you take her away." Sasuke then said in a dark tone, threatening the puppeteer.

Sakura wasn't sure about what to do at this point, watching as the men continued to have a stare-off.

"Listen, Sasuke-" she was then cut off when he shouted,

"Don't be stupid, Sakura! How could you fall for his trap so easily? He's only using you, damn it!"

She froze in place then, surprised of his sudden outburst.

Sasori scowled and then pushed the Uchiha backwards, making him stumble as he said,

"I've still drained you of your chakra, don't bother trying to challenge me."

Sakura then sighed and walked up to Sasuke, asking Sasori if he could leave them alone for a moment.

He reluctantly did as she asked, and soon disappeared from the area.

Sakura then took a deep breath, sitting down next to Sasuke as she tried thinking of something to say.

"You know...maybe you'd understand me better if I explained everything to you, Sasuke...I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of the whole thing between me and Sasori, but I'll tell you about how everything came to this." She then said.

He turned his head to face her, saying nothing as she spoke, telling him about her mission and how she came to be close with Sasori.

He didn't know what to make of it, but she then showed him the silver ring on her finger, saying,

"So, that's how it all happened. I was planning on staying with the Akatsuki, but then that's when you showed up..." she finished, trailing off as she thought back to when he attacked her.

He lowered his head then, saying,

"Heh, you really have changed, Sakura. I can't believe I never saw it before..."

She then cocked her head at him, smiling as she said,

"Don't tell me you're actually turning soft..!"

He then smirked and leaned toward her, quickly kissing her on the forhead.

She smiled at his action and was about to say something when Sasori suddenly appeared, saying,

"That's as far as you go, Uchiha."

He had a dark look on his face, folding his arms so that he would look more intimidating. But Sasuke then smirked saying,

"Alright, Sasori...I give in. But I just want to tell you something before you take me back to the village..."

"What is it?"

"Be careful." Sasuke then said, looking in Sakura's direction.

Sasori then smirked slightly nodding his head momentarily.

Sakura arched an eyebrow as they both smirked at her with strange looks on their faces making her fume as she said,

"What?"

"Nothing." The two men said simultaneously.

She growled at their answer and then said,

"By the way, Sasuke. When you see Naruto...tell him that I-"

She was then cut off when a piercing noise came out of nowhere, almost like someone was shouting...

"SAKURAAA-CHAN!"

"_Oh, shit. Don't tell me..."_ she thought, fear striking her as she realized whose voice it was.

"N-Naruto?" she muttered, looking around the area as the two men sent her curious looks.

"Naruto? You mean the jinchuuriki?" Sasori asked.

"What the hell is that idiot doing here?" Sasuke uttered, activating his sharingan so that he could find out where the hyper blond was.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" the voice shouted again.

Sakura then gulped, screaming when the spiky-haired boy jumped from the tree behind her, tackling her to the ground.

"N-NARUTO!" she shouted at him.

They rolled on the ground for a while, but Sakura then stopped it by punching him in the face sending him flying backwards towards the other two confused men.

They both then stepped aside, letting him fly past them both.

"Dobe." Sasuke muttered.


	18. Strange reunions

**Well, I hope I didn't mess this chapter up! I had a lot of problems writing it, but I do hope that it's okay.**

**BUT I CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE GOT OVER 100 REVIEWS! :O:O:O:O**

**Sasori: I can't believe they actually read your stories.**

**Swissgal16: -_-**

**Whatever, I just want to thank ALL of you guys again anyway! **

**I never thought that writing would ever be my _thing, _**

**but now I'm obsessed with it! **

**Lord, thank you all again ^^ **

Chapter 18: Strange reunions

"What the hell are you doing here, Naruto?" Sakura asked angrily, standing up as she marched past the other two sceptical men.

She then stopped infront of the blond, who still seemed to be recovering from her punch, grabbing his collar as she shook him while shouting,

"Do you know how dangerous it is to come out here, you idiot! And why the hell did you have to scare me like that?" she finished, glaring at him as his eyes jumped up and down in their sockets from the all the shaking.

He then shook his head for a moment and looked up at her, grinning like a child as he suddenly pulled her into an embrace.

She gasped at his action, but then sighed, hugging him back for a moment.

Sasuke and Sasori growled in the backround, glaring at the two.

"What the hell do you think I was doing? I came to look for you! After Tsunade let me out of hospital, I asked her about where you and Sai went on your mission. She told me that it was confidential...and after she kicked me out of her office... I decided to sneak out here and follow your tracks." He finished, sighing as he smiled at her happily.

She returned a small smile, but then said,

"Naruto...since we left, a lot has...happened." She then glanced back, smiling at the other two a bit.

Naruto looked over her shoulder and widened his eyes completely, gaping at the two men who stared at him with puzzled looks.

"S-Sasuke...?" he muttered, walking past Sakura as he then stood face to face with the Uchiha.

Sasuke scowled at him. Not expecting his former-teammate to suddenly appear at such bad timing.

Naruto then clenched his fists and looked down, avoiding his old friend's cold stare.

"What, Dobe?" Sasuke then asked, annoyed when he didn't say anything to him.

Naruto then clenched his teeth and looked back up, punching Sasuke hard across the face, making him fly backwards.

Sasori arched an eyebrow and stepped aside, letting the Uchiha fly past him and into a tree.

"You bastard! It's been nearly 4 years since you left us!" Naruto shouted, pointing angrily at Sasuke's crouching figure as he struggled to stand up.

Sakura then quickly came up to Naruto, putting a hand on his houlder as she whispered,

"Calm down. What's important is that we get him back to Konoha, and then Tsunade-sama can deal with him herself."

Naruto then growled, putting his hand down as he said,

"So did you finally get your revenge, Sasuke? Was it really worth it in the end?"

Sasuke then glared back up at him with blood red eyes, saying,

"He's still alive."

Naruto then widened his eyes for a moment looking down again in silence, suddenly feeling enraged with the fact that Tsunade hadn't told him that she'd sent Sakura and Sai out to capture the Uchiha. He then looked back at Sakura and asked in a serious tone,

"Sakura, did he hurt you at all?"

She then blinked for a moment, replying,

"Um-no, Naruto. And don't worry about it, his chakra's been blocked, so he can't really do anything to escape unless Sasori unblocks it for him." She finished, looking back at the stoic red-head.

Naruto then arched an eyebrow and turned to the side to see the man glaring at him.

Sasori was still unsure about what to make of the loud-mouthed jinchuuriki, waiting for him to say something.

"Wait...Sasori? Who is this guy, Sakura? What's he doing here?"

Sakura noticed the sudden tension, startled when Sasori suddenly pulled her closer to his chest, still glaring at the blonde.

She looked at both of them, not certain about what to do now but then said,

"Oh, um-he's my...erm-"

"Boyfriend." Sasori cut in, staying stoic the entire time.

Naruto then blinked, staring at Sakura for a moment, shouting,

"What the hell? Is this true Sakura? But h-he's part of the damn Akatsuki, look at his cloak!" he finished, pointing shakily at the red-head.

"Should I take him out?" Sasori then asked Sakura in a whispered tone.

She arched an eyebrow and grolwed at him, saying angrily,

"NO Sasori. He's my friend, if you can recall!"

He then sighed, saying,

"Right..."

Naruto was still ranting about the situation, throwing his hands up to the sky as he cried out,

"Why Sakura! Why?"

She then groaned and gently pulled away from Sasori, walking up to the shrieking blonde as she swiftly knocked him hard on the head.

He grunted in pain, rubbing his head as he looked up at her with a look of confusion.

She then took a deep breath and said,

"Listen, Naruto, let's quickly go into one of the trees and talk. I'll tell you about everything but ONLY if you'll stop ranting!"

He then stood up and nodded, following her lead as they jumped up into one of the trees.

Sasori and Sasuke glared at them both before they left them alone.

Sasuke then glanced at Sasori who stood there, folding his arms.

The two waited in silence, trying to avoid making any eye-contact with one another.

"WHAT THE HELL!" they then heard Naruto shout from above.

"YOU MEAN HE'S THE GUY YOU-"

"Shut up!" they then heard her voice cut in.

"But he's the one who nearly killed you and Chiyo!" he then whispered angrily at her.

"I know! But he was revived, and he's human now, and it's just..argh, I don't know, things got complicated!" she finished with a groan, rubbing her sore temples.

She then looked back up at him and explained everything about when they joined the Akatsuki, and everything else that happened between her, Sasori, Sai, Deidara, and the others.

He resorted to gaping as she continued to explain the complicated relationship she had formed with Sasori and the members.

"So that's when Sasuke appeared, and he tried kidnapping me at first, but Sasori managed to take him down-"

"Really?" he interrupted.

"Yes, but after that, he attacked Deidara and..."

"And...what?"

She then looked away and told him about how she had to reveal the truth to everyone, including when Sasuke took her away to his hideout, not mentioning what he had done to her while being there.

Naruto then curved his mouth downwards into a frown when she finished explaining how Sasori had saved her.

"So he then captured both me and Sasuke, bringing us here. After that, he was planning on...killing me, because he was ordered to-"

"WHAT THE HELL!" he then shouted in anger.

Both Sasori and Sasuke looked up, itching to hear what they were talking about.

"Quiet Naruto! At least let me finish!" she whispered in a deathly tone, shaking him by his collar again. He cowered in fear and let her continue.

"Anyway, but after that, I talked to Sasori about the whole thing, and he decided that he'd leave the Akatsuki to be with me."

She then paused, smiling as she thought about how silly he was when he told her that.

Naruto rolled his eyes as she zoned out for a moment.

She then shook her head and carried on, saying,

"We haven't decided yet what we're going to do though...what do you think? Should I ask him to come back to Konoha with us? Or what...?" she finished, trailing off as she began to ponder about the situation she and Sasori had put themselves in.

Naruto then arched an eyebrow and sighed taking in everything that she had told him.

She had _actually _fallen in love with an Akatsuki member...a dead one too.

That was hard enough for him to understand, but he put it aside and then stood up with a wide grin on his face, saying,

"If you really like this guy, Sakura, then do what you think is right. Maybe Tsunade will let him come live in Konoha with us!"

She then arched both eyebrows, not knowing if that was the smartest thing to do, but decided that it might be easier if he came with them, and maybe stayed with her for awhile.

And then they could both discuss what they wanted to do together.

"Maybe...yeah, I'll talk to him about it." She then said, glad that her old friend was being so understanding.

"Okay! Come on, we don't wanna keep them waiting." He then said with a childish grin, jumping down the branches until he reached the ground.

She soon followed, smiling at him from behind as she went over to Sasori again.

Naruto then ran towards Sasuke with open arms, shouting,

"Welcome back Teme!"

He then leapt forwards and pulled the startled Uchiha into an embrace.

Sasuke didn't return the gesture, but growled when he still couldn't use any of his chakra after being drained and blocked by Sasori.

"Get off of me dobe..!" Sasuke said in a low tone, relieved when the blonde soon let go of him.

Naruto then let his grin fade, saying,

"Sasuke, just so you know, if you EVER hurt Sakura again, I will personally beat you to a pulp." He finished, sending a dark look towards the Uchiha who simply scoffed at his remark, saying,

"I already apologized, dobe. No need to get upset."

Naruto then nodded in satisfaction turning around to face Sasori now, who simply stared back emotionlessly.

"So...you're Sasori, right?"

The red-head then nodded back, saying,

"And you're the loud-mouthed jinchuu-"

Sakura then stepped on his foot, glaring at him as he flinched, correcting himself as he said,

"I mean...Naruto."

Naruto then grinned and took a step forward, holding out his hand towards him.

Sasori simply looked from his hand to his grinning face, slowly holding out his own to shake it.

Sakura smiled a bit, slightly nervous about them getting along with eachother.

Sasori was basically the complete opposite of Naruto, but they did have one thing in common...

Naruto then said, "The same goes for you too then, Sasori. If you ever hurt Sakura, I swear I'll-"

"I would never." Sasori then spat, angry that this blonde thought he was as low as the Uchiha had been.

Naruto then smiled, seeing the determination in Sasori's eyes. He then scratched the back of his head saying,

"Good. Now let's go!"

He then went over to Sasuke, who soon took a step back, but Naruto then grabbed and threw him over his shoulder, making him shout out in anger.

"Be careful Naruto!" Sakura then shouted out, worried about the still-injured Uchiha.

Sasori simply smirked at the scene, deciding that he actually like the blonde.

"No worries, Sakura-chan!" he said back, holding a thumbs-up sign. Sasuke groaned in pain, not being able to move.

Naruto then suddenly remembered something, asking,

"Wait a minute...where's Sai?"

Sakura then froze in place, cursing at herself for forgetting about Sai...again.

She then slowly turned her head towards Sasori, sending him a questioning look. He then widened his eyes, saying,

"Before I left...I remember Pain sending Deidara to capture and kill Sai...but-"

"What!" she and Naruto both shouted in unison.

Sasori then frowned saying,

"Don't worry...knowing Deidara, he's bound to chicken-out."

She then held a little hope in her eyes, still feeling completely guilty.

They all then decided that they'd first go to Konoha and figure out a way of tracking Deidara down, and hopefully when they did, Sai would still be alive...

"Argh..! I can't believe this! This is all my fault!" she then said out loud, clenching her gloved fists. She then turned to glare at Sasuke who was still draped over Naruto's shoulder like a rag doll, shouting,

"If you hadn't tried kidnapping me, we wouldn't be in this situation damn it!"

He was slightly surprised with her sudden rage being directed towards him, but weakly lifted his head up with a frown, saying,

"I had my reasons at the time, and I _did_ apologize didn't I?"

She then clenched her teeth, beginning to start an arguement with him.

Both Naruto and Sasori watched in amusement as they fought, but overall, Naruto was the one who was enjoying their fight the most, since he was usually the only one she shouted at.

But now, after nearly four years of not seeing how much she had changed, Sasuke could experience what it was like being told off by the new Sakura...

"What kind of a reason is that!" she then shouted furiously.

"Why are you complaining? You captured me in the end, didn't you?"

"Yes, but only because Sasori saved me! And now that Sai's probably dead, I'm going to be feeling guilty for the rest of my life!" she finished breathing in and out as her anger-filled eyes glared at his cold ones.

They then had nothing more to say to one another.

Sakura turned back to Sasori, taking his hand as she said,

"Let's just go."

"Yes, ma'am." Sasori snickered, smirking at her as she started glowering at him.

"Phew...well, now that that's over, we can finally go home." Naruto said, following behind Sasori and Sakura as they all began heading in the direction of the village.

But only several minutes later, they all jumped when they heard a scream coming from behind them.

Sasori pulled Sakura away at that moment, making her stand behind him as he looked around, trying to sense where the scream had come from.

Naruto put Sasuke down and stepped forward with Sasori, a kunai in hand as he asked,

"What was that?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever it was-"

"DON'T DO IT DANNA!" they then heard a man's voice scream out from behind them.

Sakura turned and gasped when she saw somthething jump out from within the forest and towards them.

The figure then landed on Sasori, who gasped when he was pushed to the ground.

"What the hell!" he managed to choke out as the man on top of him began shaking him furiously while shouting,

"How could you do this to me, yeah! You leave saying that you'll kill her, and abandon me to deal with the other damn Akatsuki!"

Sasori strained to see the man's face and widened his eyes, saying,

"Brat..? What the hell are you doing here?" he finished, throwing Deidara off of him, seeing that his partner was completely dirty and wet for some reason.

Naruto and Sasuke simply blinked at the sight, whereas Sakura gaped at Deidara.

His hair was loose and wet, going over his shoulders, and he looked incredibly ticked off for some reason...

But he then stood up and glowered at Sasori, who was still glaring at him.

"I came here to stop you from killing Sakura, yeah!" he then said angrily.

But before Sasori could retort back, they heard and rustle and turned to see another figure coming out from behind some large bushes.

"S-Sai..?" Naruto muttered, staring at his friend who looked equally terrible.

The man then huffed and took in deep breaths, bending down to put his hands on his knees as he regained his composure.

He then stood up properly, saying with a fake smile,

"Long time no see, Dickless."

Naruto then growled and folded his arms, scoffing as he said,

"Well you sure haven't changed, jerk!"

Sasuke just sat there on the ground, thinking,

_"Where are all these people coming from..?"_

Sakura then ran forward and hugged Sai quickly, completely relieved that he was safe, but then growled at him, slapping him across the face as she shouted,

"Don't worry me like that again, damn it!"

He rubbed his cheek and replied,

"Nice to see you too, hag."

She then smiled at him a bit and turned around to look at Deidara with a disgusted frown, asking,

"Deidara...where the hell are your pants?"


	19. Compromise

**PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! D:D:D:**

**I know it's been more than a month since I've updated, but we were moving into a new flat (which was hectic) **

**so there was no time for me to sit back and do some writing...along with the fact that school had been hell!  
**

**So forgive me if this chapter isn't at all 'exciting', but I'll try do a better job on the next one...**

**I just don't know how much longer I want to make this story, but we'll see... :P**

Chapter 19: Compromise

"Lady Tsunade! A group of 6 shinobi are headed this way, along with what looks like an Akatsuki member…and…" Shizune said, looking through the binoculars as she and the hokage stood on the main tower.

"And what? Who else is there?" Tsunade asked grumpily, folding her arms as the wind blew in a ferocious manner around them.

"Sakura." She then said, turning to look at the older woman with a serious look.

Tsunade widened her eyes at this and grabbed the binoculars, looking ahead of the village's gate.

And sure enough, there were 6 shinobi from what she could see, including Sakura.

She was walking beside an Akastuki member, but she wasn't able to make out the face, only the cloak.

As she tried taking a closer look, her eyes widened as she saw both Sai, Naruto and Sasuke with her.

"What the hell is going on?" she muttered.

"Is she holding that Akatsuki member hostage? Did she and Sai capture Sasuke? And why the hell is Naruto with them? But wait…" she then arched an eyebrow when the last shinobi came into view.

He had long blond hair, but there was something wrong…he didn't seem to be wearing any pants…

She then handed the binoculars back to Shizune and growled saying,

"Tell the guards to let them in, but make sure that that's _our _Sakura with them. The last thing I need is for a group of disguised shinobi to be running around free in the village."

Shizune then nodded and jumped across the roofs until she was out of sight.

The hokage sighed, not fully comprehending what was going on, but she decided to return to her office and wait for everything to happen on it's own accord.

Meanwhile… 

"That's the main gate!" Sakura said happily, only receiving a grunt from the Uchiha who was still slung over Naruto's back, still too injured to walk properly yet.

She frowned a bit at this and went over to her ex-teammate, resting her hand on his forehead as she tried reading his temperature.

He flinched at her touch, arching an eyebrow at her action as he asked,

"What?" he growled.

She didn't answer back, and just continued to pour chakra into his neck wound, trailing her hand down to his shoulder where he had large bruises forming.

"Try not to move so much when we get back. They'll probably have you go stay in the hospital for awhile." She said, taking her hand away from his shoulder. Naruto grinned widely at her, saying,

"Don't worry Teme! Me and the others will visit you whenever we get the chance!"

Sasuke then arched both eyebrows, not replying as he cast a sideways glance at the other three men.

Sasori was glaring at him from the corner of his eye, obviously still wishing he could have killed him when he had the chance. Sai still held his fake smile, looking up ahead as the gates neared.

Deidara meanwhile was lagging behind them all, stopping every now and then to take a deep breath.

There was a twitch in his eye, and after a few more steps of walking, he stopped dead in his tracks. Sasori noticed his sudden action and turned while asking,

"What's wrong Brat?"

Sakura also turned, giving the blue-eyed man a puzzled look which turned to annoyance when she asked,

"Let me guess…you need to _go _again_?_"

His twitch increased.

"No!"

He then sighed and asked,

"What the hell is going to happen when they see me and Sasori with you guys? We shouldn't even be here!"

She opened her mouth a little, understanding what was bothering him now.

"Well… if we state that you've both abandoned the Akatsuki, I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement…" she said, thinking hard for a moment.

"I mean…I never really thought of it…my main mission was to bring Sasuke back. But I can convince Tsunade that you're not our enemies. Maybe you can then stay with me or Naruto for awhile."

Sasori stiffened for a moment then, going over her words.

Deidara sighed at her answer saying, "Fine…I guess we could do that. But I don't know…apart from you and Sai, there aren't any other Konoha shinobi that we're on friendly terms with, yeah."

Naruto lowered his head at this while saying,

"It won't be easy for them to accept outsiders…we know what they're like. But we've gotta at least try and get them to accept you guys." he finished with determination gleaming in his eyes.

Sasori looked at the spiky-haired blond from the side, giving him a strange look.

"_This kid…he barely know us, and yet he's determined to have his village accept us. But why..?" _He thought.

Sakura smiled at her blonde friend and looked back at the red-head on her right. He had a rather solemn look on his face, making her smile fade as she put her hand on his own.

He froze at her sudden touch, looking back at her with an expression that reminded her of a lost child.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly, rubbing his hand gently as she entwined her fingers with his.

He looked back down at their hands and smirked a bit, saying,

"It's nothing."

She gave him an incredulous look as she pressed the subject, saying,

"Sasori, I'm not forcing you to come with us to Konoha. If you don't-"

He then cut her off, saying, "It's not like I have anywhere else to go to. Even if I end up being locked up in a cell for my crimes, which I'm sure they're aware of…I don't really care. Just as long as I can be with you."

She stared at him for a prolonged moment, trying to make sense of his words as she snapped back,

"I wouldn't let them. If they even try something like that on either you, or Deidara, then I wouldn't think twice about turning the buildings into rubble."

Naruto chuckled at her answer but cowered a bit when he saw how dead serious she looked at that moment.

Deidara laughed at the scene and put his hand on her shoulder saying,

"There's no need for that, Pinky. I think Sasori and I can take care of ourselves, yeah."

Sasori smirked at her anger-swept face and swiftly placed a soft kiss on her for head saying,

"He's right. There's no need for you to worry about us."

She frowned at them both and looked back up ahead. The gates were merely 10 meters away now, along with two guards standing in front of them.

As soon as they were close enough, the one guard stepped forward and said,

"State your names and business here."

Sakura then took a small step forward reaching into her pocket to pull out her head band as she said,

"Haruno Sakura. Apprentice of the Hokage, along with Uzumaki Naruto."

Sai then came forward and pulled out a small scroll with information on it, showing it to the two guards.

"Aha, you're from the ANBU. Welcome back. And what about you three?" the one then asked, pointing at Sasuke, Deidara and Sasori.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The raven-haired man then spoke up, slowly but surely getting off of Naruto's back as he shakily stood up straight.

"Watch it." Naruro muttered, putting an arm around his shoulder to hold him up.

The two guards then froze in place.

"Uchiha…Sasuke? Then you're-"

"We retrieved him on our mission given to us by the Hokage herself. You can question her about it." Sakura said, cutting him off.

Sasori shrugged a bit, not entirely pleased that they had suddenly moved their attention onto the Uchiha. He then stepped forward saying,

"Akasuna no Sasori. Ex-member of the Akatsuki, I wish to speak with the Hokage."

They widened their eyes upon recognizing his cloak and were about to pull out their weapons when a woman appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Stop, I've come here with orders from the Hokage." The black-haired woman said sternly, watching as they put away their kunai. She then turned and let a smile grace her features as she looked at the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Shizune!" Sakura said happily, glad to see the woman.

"Sakura, this is quite a surprise. Lady Tsunade has requested that you all come to her office immediately to discuss…" she then looked around at all the other members of the group, arching an eyebrow at the man without any pants.

"Matters." She finished.

Deidara smirked at her as he said,

"How's it? yeah."

She then turned and lead them all through the gates, walking down the main path until they reached the tower.

Sakura curiously looked to the side of where all the shops and houses were standing, noticing that there weren't any people out yet.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set, but she figured that everyone would still be active at this time.

She then looked forward, asking Shizune,

"Where is everyone? Did something happen?"

The woman glanced at Sakura for a moment and replied curtly,

"It's nothing serious, just extra received news that the Leader of Akatsuki had been detected nearby. But his trace disappeared after several hours."

"I see…" Sakura muttered, looking at Sasori who was stoic as ever, but seemed to hold a hint of worry in his eyes at this news.

Sasuke was limping beside Naruto who refused to let go of him as they walked.

By the time they managed to get up the stairs, Shizune went up to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." a gruff voice said from inside.

Shizune then opened the door to reveal Tsunade sitting at her desk as usual but with her hands resting on her chin as she watched them enter with a perplexed look.

Sakura walked up to her desk and strained to keep herself from grinning at her master.

"Lady Tsunade." She said.

The brown-eyed woman then stood up and grabbed the kunoichi, squeezing her in a tight hug as she said,

"Sakura! I knew it was you, it's been more than two months, but you and Sai have returned successful as I can see." She finished, pulling away from the girl to look at the five men.

Sai bowed at her, but Naruto soon began ranting at the woman, shouting,

"How the hell could you keep something like this from me, Granny? They're my teammates, and you let them go after Sasuke without me!"

The woman then sighed, sitting back at her desk and motioned for everyone to seat themselves in front of her.

Shizune soon left so that the Hokage could deal with them on her own, feeling slightly wary about the blond and red-head.

"Naruto, you know fully well that you weren't up to going on such a dangerous mission. It's because of that big mouth of yours that you ended up in hospital anyways…" she finished with a mutter, earning a growl from the jinchuurki.

"…besides, from what I can see, you went after them on your own and ended up coming home together."

He then closed his mouth and nodded at this saying,

"Yeah…it was a bit of an accident, but I don't regret going after them. If I hadn't, Sakura would have ended up carrying the guy." He finished with a smirk as he looked back at the young Uchiha who grumbled something under his breath.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the two and then butted in saying,

"Lady Tsunade, there's a lot I have to tell you. And for one thing, even though we managed to bring Sasuke back-"

"You also brought back Akasuna no Sasori, and Deidara, the bomber from Iwa. Both who happen to be Akatsuki members." The woman said cutting her off.

"Care explaining? So are they hostages you brought back or what?"

"No, they're actually…however strange it may sound to you, companions."

"What?"

"It's a long story, but I'd rather explain it to you in privacy."

The woman frowned at this and asked,

"So why have you brought them here?"

Sakura then sighed inwardly, not entirely sure about how to explain it all simply, but her thoughts were soon interrupted when Sasori spoke up, saying,

"Tsunade…Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village. My partner and I request that we make a compromise."

Tsunade widened her eyes at this for a moment, saying,

"Is that so? And why would a pair of blood-thirsty Akatsuki members change sides so suddenly? For all I know, you could be planning to either assassinate me or destroy the village."

Sasori scowled at her response and then explained their situation, leaving out details that could possibly make her deny his request.

"We have both recently left the Akatsuki in order to have freedom from the organisation and live…normal lives..."

Tsunade arched her eyebrows at this, waiting for him to continue.

"Which is why I now ask that you consider allowing us to become shinobi of Konoha."

Deidara gasped at his partner's sudden declaration and shouted,

"Are you crazy? I thought we'd just be staying here until-"

"Until what?" Sasori snapped, glaring at the blond.

"Until we leave to be hunted down by the Akatsuki?

Until we leave to return to our own villages which we both betrayed in the past?

I waited ten years for my parents to return from their so-called, 'extended mission' only to find out that they had been dead the entire time.

And yours _rejected_ you due to your bloodline limit didn't they?

What family do we have to return to brat?"

Sakura stared at the fuming red-head, not aware of the tears that were pricking her eyes.

"_Is that true?" _she thought, clenching her fists.

The hokage watched as Sasori soon calmed down, running his fingers through his hair as his jaw clenched tightly.

He then turned to look back at her with a look of pure resolution.

"I want to become a shinobi to erase my mistakes in the past, and be acknowledged." He finished, standing tall.

"_This is so…unlike Sasori...why is he so..?" _Sakura asked herself, shaking a bit as she thought back to what he had said about his parents.

Deidara held a look of confusion from his Danna's words and then sighed deeply, standing next to Sasori as he said,

"Fine, you win. I'll become a shinobi too…for the same reasons as him, yeah."

Tsunade couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at the two.

She never expected anything like this to occur, but why _did_ they change sides so suddenly?

Did it have something to do with Sakura and Sai? She continued to ponder on this and then let out a deep sigh calling out,

"Shizune!"

The door opened almost immediately and the black-haired woman entered.

"Yes, Tsunade?"

"These two ex-Akatsuki members will be put under surveillance by Naruto and Sai for the next two months. If they pass my test without doing anything suspicious, then you are to list them both as full-fledged shinobi of Konoha and erase any information of them being in the bingo book." She said, then turning to look at the Uchiha as she continued,

"And as for the Uchiha, he will be put under surveillance by Sakura for the next four months. He wasn't brought here on his own accord, so he'll be needed to be kept an eye on, more so than the other two, is that clear Sakura?"

The pink haired kunoichi then straightened herself saying,

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Is that all?" Shizune then asked, looking away from her pen and paper.

"No…there's just one more thing. I need you to take Deidara to one of the stores immediately beforehand." The woman then said, folding her arms as she stared at the blond man.

"What for Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked curiously.

Tsunade then let her eye twitch as she shouted,

"To get the man some pants damn it! It's killing me just trying to focus on anything with him standing there like that!"

"Heh…I have that effect on women, yeah." The man stated proudly.

Sakura and Sasori rolled their eyes at him simultaneously saying,

"Idiot."


	20. Answers

**Since I've been such a jerk to you guys for not updating for so long, I decided to immediately put up a new chapter.**

**I couldn't stop writing! So I hope the chapter's alright, and once again,**

**thank you ! **

**And you know what...I think I'll make the story as long as I can ;D I just love writing it.**

**And if I do decide to finish it in the near future, then be aware that I'll probably start immediately on a new SasoSaku story.**

**I've just got all kinds of ideas XD**

**Anyway, enjoy;)**

Chapter 20: Answers

Sasuke glared at all the people surrounding his bed in the hospital.

There were bandages around his arms, torso and several around his legs.

The last time he had been in such bad shape was probably the time after the chuunin exams, except it was different now.

His injuries weren't caused by his brother, or by a dangerous rival…they were overall, caused by the Akatsuki member who should have been dead, along with the girl who had been infatuated with him for years.

As the nurses and doctors prodded him and checked up on all his healing injuries, he couldn't help but wonder why it had ended like this.

Was it actually a good thing that he had been brought back to Konoha?

He never really thought much about his old friends when he was a missing-nin, in fact, he had blocked them out of his mind completely, including Team 7.

It had been several days since he was put on immediate probation for the next four months.

He had heard that Sasori and Deidara would be staying with Naruto and Sai for now, being required that they kept an eye on the two ex-Akatsuki members.

But what about him..? Once his injuries were completely healed, where would he have to be staying?

It was then that the sound of the door being slammed open broke him away from his thoughts.

"Alright, everybody out! As of now, he's my patient." The pink-haired kunoichi said with authority, watching as the nurses and doctors left the room. She was wearing her usual nurses' outfit and was holding what seemed to be a chart in her hands.

Once they were gone, she turned her attention to the puzzled-looking Uchiha who stared at her from his bed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

She smiled a bit and walked over to him, pulling a chair as she sat herself down.

"Hmmph, I thought you knew. Take a wild guess!" She said with a small laugh, clicking her pen.

"_Of course, she's a medic. I just never knew she'd be working in the hospital…" _he thought, huffing as he turned his head to look out the window.

"Alright, now tell me how your injuries have been. You had one cracked rib, a sprained ankle, bruised arms and also cuts along your legs. Are you sure that there's nothing else you've recently found painful in any parts of your body?" she asked, reading through the reports she held.

He glanced back at her with emotionless eyes, taking in her appearance. She had really grown.

"No." he answered simply. She nodded at this and leaned forward, grabbing his wrist as she studied it.

He gave her a confused look and watched as a frown formed on her face.

"They didn't do a good job on your wrist." She muttered, rolling her eyes inwardly.

She was then about to start pouring her chakra out when he suddenly pulled his wrist away, making her gape angrily at him for a moment.

"What?" she asked, trying to keep her temper down.

He continued to scowl at her, saying,

"My wrist's fine. You can go."

She continued to give him a dumbfounded look and soon let a growl escape from her throat.

"Sasuke, let me see it." She said in a dangerous tone.

He returned her glare and said,

"Leave."

She then stood up and let anger spread over her face as she shouted,

"Quit acting like a stubborn ass! I would have thought you'd have at least grown up a bit in these past few years! This is just like what happened the last time…" she muttered the last words to herself, suddenly growing saddened as she thought back.

He had heard her last words and took a moment to remember what she meant.

"_That's right. I lost my temper and slapped that plate out of her hands when she brought me food." _He thought, letting a pang of guilt hit him for a moment.

That happened several days before he had left the village.

"I thought we were okay after leaving the forest! You kissed me damn it! So what the hell is with you now all of a sudden?" she then shouted, throwing the chart onto the bed.

He squinted his eyes and turned to focus on something else, saying in a low tone,

"That meant nothing. It was only to apologize for what I did to you."

The way he said it made her flinch.

"Just go. I don't need this right now." He then said with a gruff, glaring at her from the corner of his eye.

"You've changed so much." She then said, looking down as she bit her lip. He didn't say anything at this and continued to look at her with a dead look.

She then lifted her head back up and glared at him with a defiant face, along with the air around her changing almost instantly.

"But this time, you can't push me away so easily. This time, you're going to listen to me, that is…unless…" she said, letting an evil smirk show on her face.

"…you want to gain several more broken ribs."

The look she was giving him told him that she was serious. He could even hear her knuckles cracking as she clenched her hands into fists.

He scoffed at this and replied back,

"I'd like to see you try."

Something snapped inside of her at the way he said that. She then walked past his bed towards the window saying,

"You're still a wanted criminal, Sasuke. I didn't want to believe it when found out about all the people you had killed. You're not the same person anymore. And as much as I'd love to send you flying out the window…it would only cause more chaos, so…"

And before he could comprehend what was happening, she had slapped him across the face. The stinging pain rushed through his body at that point, and a large area of redness began forming all over his cheek. He clenched his teeth at this and glared at her with a killing intent.

"That's for everything." She said lowly, storming out of the room and slamming the door loudly behind her. The cement cracked around the door's frame, sounding through his ears as he sat back, trying to forget what she had said.

Meanwhile…

"That's all there is to know about the organization. But before I had left, I remember several of the members discussing whether or not they wanted to stay, meaning that they too, had lost trust in our leader. Pain had changed his ideals and started coming up with new goals for the Akatsuki. In a way, it was as if he had himself, _changed_ suddenly."

The red-head said to the Hokage as they spoke privately in the interrogation room.

Although, since he was willing to give information to her about the Akatsuki, it sounded more like a plain conversation than an interrogation.

The room was small and empty, having a table in the middle of it where they sat facing eachother.

It was also dimly lit, and no one was with them, except for the guard that stood by the door outside, ready to come in if the ex-Akatsuki member decided to do anything funny.

"I see…that certainly does sound strange. So would you mind telling what plans he has at this moment?" the woman asked, listening to him intently.

He then rested his hand on his chin, holding a lazy look in his brown eyes as he said,

"I wasn't around at the time to hear what he was planning, the meeting was being held after I had fled the organization to search for Sakura."

She arched an eyebrow at this, waiting for him to continue.

"But what I do remember is that Pain had mentioned something about attacking one of the villages in Fire country. Although I'm not sure which one it was exactly, I was too preoccupied at the time…" he then let his mind wander off onto a certain kunoichi, not feeling pleased about being away from her for the past three days.

All that these Leaf Shinobi had been doing was question him the entire time, along with Deidara who was being interrogated in the room next to them.

"Alright. Thank you Sasori, you've been a great help, although…" she then frowned as she stood up. "…your friend isn't exactly as calm about this it as you are right now."

"_For the last time, I'm a guy, yeah!"_ they heard a loud voice shout from behind the wall on their right.

Sasori sighed at this, shaking his head as he said,

"The brat overreacts about everything. No need to worry about him."

Tsunade nodded at this, giving him a serious look as she then said,

"By the way Sasori, I have a question regarding my apprentice, Sakura."

He lifted his head with mild interest in hearing his pink-haired kunoichi's name.

"Yes?" he asked, holding his usual poker face as he waited for her to say something.

"What is your relationship with her?"

He widened his eyes a bit at this question, not understanding why she suddenly asked such a thing.

"I'm aware that she was the one who helped defeat you more than two years ago leading to your 'so-called' death. And after hearing that you had been resurrected, I was been worried for her sake once she attempted joining the Akatsuki on the mission given to her…although, not only was she successful, but you came back with her too. Why?" she finished, giving him a stern look as she tried searching for the answers in his suddenly perplexed face.

He took several moments to answer, and when he did, he couldn't help but smirk a bit as he said,

"Would you really like to know, Hokage-sama?"

* * *

"That jerk!" Sakura screamed inside her head.

She was too occupied with her thoughts to notice everyone backing away from her as she walked through the crowd of villagers in was evident that the kunoichi was in an awful mood, but no one dared to stand in her way as she stomped towards the Hokage tower.

Everyone had finally come out again, after the trace of the Akatsuki members had disappeared.

Tsunade had then announced that it was safe to come out again.

"Hey, Sakura!" she suddenly heard several people call out.

She whipped her head around at her name being called and let the anger fade away momentarily when she saw her friends approaching.

Ino, Hinata, Choji, Lee and even Shikamaru came up to her, throwing questions at her about her absence.

"Where've you been these past two months?" Ino questioned, grinning at her pink-haired friend.

"I've missed you so much, Sakura-san!" Lee cried out, letting his usual tears fall down.

She smiled back at them nervously as she said,

"I've just come back from my mission, it required more time than my others. Sorry I never said anything…"

"It's a _guy_, isn't it?" Ino said, stretching the third word as she grinned at the suddenly blushing kunoichi.

Sakura huffed at this and denied what she was implying, telling her it was impossible to get involved with a man during a mission.

Ino waved it off saying,

"Whatever you say Sakura…"

"Sakura would never do such a thing during an imortant mission!" Lee then interrupted, suddenly starting an argument with the blond.

They then began moving away, continuing to fight. She laughed at this and soon noticed Shikamaru coming up to her.

"So who were those guys who were let through the gate?" He asked as he put his hands in his pocket.

"How did you know?" she then asked curiously.

"I saw you guys enter when I was on patrol." He answered lazily.

"Oh…sorry Shikamaru, but for now, I can't really say anything. You'll find out soon enough though." She finished with a smile. He then sighed, asnwering back,

"Alright, well, I guess I'll see you later then-"

"There is one thing I can tell you though." She interrupted, deciding now would be the best time to tell arched an eyebrow and waited for her to carry on.

"We brought Sasuke back." She then said with a deep sigh.

"What?" he muttered, widening his eyes as he went over her words.

"You can go tell the others if you want, he's currently staying in hospital due to some injuries, but I think he'd appreciate seeing you all. I can't give you all the details yet, but we'll talk later, okay?" She finished, smirking inwardly as she thought about Ino strangling Sasuke in a menacing hug once she saw him.

"_**Pay back." **_Her inner thought.

Having said that, he immediately ran back to the others, still in shock after hearing what she had just told him. She smiled as he ran after them, turning to continue her walk back to the tower.

"_Now where was I..? Oh yeah, that JERK!" _she then thought, getting back into the swing of her bad mood. Fire blazed through her eyes as she marched, cursing whenever she thought about the raven-haired man and how he had treated her before.

It had been three days without her seeing either Sasori or Deidara, and that was also what was beginning to tick her off.

By the time she was up the stairs, several men who had tried stopping her from reaching the interrogation rooms, were soon either thrown out of the window or across the hallway.

Taking out her anger on someone else made her feel surprisingly better, even if she was scowled by her sensei later.

By the time she reached one of the two doors, she was faced with a tall, intimidating man standing between them while saying,

"Sorry young lady, but these two rooms are off limits."

She growled lowly and whipped her head to look at the door on her right when she heard Sasori's voice say from behind the door,

"_Would you really like to know, Hokage-sama?"_

She then cracked her knuckles and grabbed the man by his collar, throwing him aside with ease.

"I'm not in the mood." She said in a low whisper, pushing the door open as she stomped inside.

* * *

Sasori and Tsunade arched their eyebrows when the door was flung open, along with a ticked-off-looking kunoichi who suddenly stepped in.

"Sakura? What are y-" Sasori asked with confusion, being cut off when she stepped forward and grabbed his collar, pulling him up as she forced her lips upon his.

He continued to hold a look of confusement as she kissed him, but then put his arms around her and returned the gesture with her running her hands through his red hair.

"…I think that suffices as an answer." Tsunade said under her breath, rubbing her temples at the scene.


	21. Hurting her physically and mentally

**OMG OMG OMG...**

**You guys must be sooooo pissed with me DX I'm sorry I haven't written a new chapter in soooo long!**

**Well, I finally found time anyways, and I'm not sure if this is even good, but just to let you guys know, it's pretty dramatic and may have some sasuxsaku in it, but I assure you all that this is a SASOXSAKU fanfic!**

**Please, be gentle if you guys don't like this chapter! XD haha, but still, thank you all soooo much for ur reviews, I was so amazed when I looked at my inbox to see how many new reviews I had gotten! O.o **

**But thank you, and I'll try to update soon again if I can!**

"Are you saying you were merely using me in order to relieve yourself from your breakdown?"

"What? No! I was just upset with Sasuke and didn't know what to do…so I thought—"

"So you used me….as a...comforter? Not because you actually wanted to see me?" he finished with a devastated look on his face.

Sakura growled lowly at the way he then crossed his arms and looked upwards, deep in thought as he tried to think things through in a more logical way.

"No! that's not what I meant! I also wanted to see you, it's just that…well, I kind of needed—"

"Something to squeeze…just like a stuffed doll. So basically, you mean to say that I, being that _comforter_, I have provided you nothing more than a little…comfort?"

Her eye twitched as she smiled weakly, saying, "Well…yes." Sasori then dropped his arms and sighed, running his hands through his hair as he stared at her with a small grin on his face.

"I was quite busy discussing 'matters' with the Hokage. You really need to stop being reckless, you've caused more than several casualties trying to reach my interrogation room." He then said, turning around to walk back into the room, where Deidara had now been moved to. She widened her eyes at this and mentally cursed herself after remembering how she had thrown several of the guards out of the window.

She then watched him walk back inside, smiling sadly as he and Deidara soon sat next to one another by the table, being restrained by the hand cuffs surrounding their wrists. Sasori then looked back up to Sakura and smirked at her, mouthing the words, _"Don't be reckless again."_

After several days of interrogation, Sasori seemed to be perfectly fine with everything and still in good physical condition, although Deidara seemed to be less motivated, moaning and complaining about everything whenever he got the chance.

His head lay face-first on the table with his hands spread out in front of him.

Sasori merely sat upright with his arms folded on the table, waiting patiently for Tsunade to return. Sakura watched then both for several moments, still holding a rather tired and sad look on her face as she thought about everything. But before she could slip away into her thoughts, a suddenly outraged blonde Missing-nin shouted out loud, "I hate this place! The food sucks and I haven't been to the bathroom in nearly 5 days, dammit!" he finished—breathing inwardly while clenching his fists and glaring at nothing in particular. "I can't take it anymore!"

Sakura arched an eyebrow at his sudden outburst and stepped back when Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder saying, "You'd better leave this to me, Sakura. I need to finish this off, but I also need _you _to go back and continue to treat Sasuke Uchiha. I'm sorry if things have gotten a little complicated for you, but for now, just bear with me. Everything will turn out alright."

Sakura sighed and looked back to the two men who suddenly began squabbling with one another, not noticing the un-amused looks Tsunade and Sakura were sending them.

"I'm amazed that these two are actually partners…let alone skilled shinobi." Tsunade then muttered to herself, watching them tiredly. She then cracked her knuckles and neck, saying, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow Sakura. And don't forget about the new arrangements."

Sakura nodded at this and bowed her head as she said good bye to her master and turned to walk down the hallway.

It was getting dark outside, but she was still 'technically' supposed to be working at the hospital. As she left the Hokage Tower, she couldn't help but feel unsure about everything. The incident with Sasuke had definitely brought out her normally hidden anger…

"Why do I even bother…it'll never be the same as it was before." She thought, stopping in her steps as she walked down the pathway, staring at the floor blankly. She remained where she was and bit her lip, trying to prevent her emotions from taking over again.

"_Sasuke was so upset before…I thought we worked everything out…is he still serious about going after his brother? If so, he would have never come along with us so easily…he's a lot more powerful than most think…" _she thought, knitting her brows in confusion.

"_I really did…overreact…Sasori was right, I'm always so reckless! And after being away from Sasuke for so long now, what if he decides to…"_

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…!" she suddenly shouted aloud. "How could I be so blind?" she said out loud as she ran towards the hospital, holding a suddenly determined and sorrowful look on her face.

"I—I need to fix this." She muttered, breathing in and out slowly as she entered the building, running up the stairs and looking back and forth to see if anyone was around, but everything was completely dark, and the lights failed to work as she tried turning them on with the switches.

"Damn it…where is everyone?" she asked herself as she slowed down her pace and walked towards Sasuke's room. When she finally reached it, she slowly pushed the door open, shaking slightly as she looked forwards only to see his bed empty. The window was wide open, but she could still sense his chakra emanating from inside of the room. She took several steps forward and stopped in the middle of the room, staring at the two nurses who lay on the ground. They weren't dead, just unconscious from what she could tell. She then sighed and ceased her shivering, closing her eyes for a moment and waiting for several seconds.

She then whipped her head upwards and stared at the man who was hanging from the ceiling. His eyes were burning red in the darkness of the room, glaring at her with hatred fuming throughout his face. Her eyes didn't glare back like he expected her to, and instead, she held a sad look in them as she stared back at him.

"This was never what I wanted." He then said in a dark angry tone of voice, breaking the silence as he silently dropped to the ground and straightened his posture to look her in the eye. Her determination never faded as she replied back, "Neither was it ever what I wanted."

"Why did you come back?" he then asked, suddenly appearing behind her after a split-second. She stayed where she was and said nothing. He arched an eyebrow at this and soon put his hands on her shoulders, sliding them down and crossing them across her chest almost as if he wanted to embrace her. "I understand now." She then said, closing her eyes as she clenched her teeth.

"You understand what?" he asked, daring her to reply back as he held a knife next to her neck. She swallowed and turned her head slightly to look back at him properly and said, "What it's like to lose the ones you care most about." He paused slightly at this and dropped the weapon, turning her around to fully face him as he replied back angrily, "How could _you_ ever understand?"

She then lifted her arm and put her hand on his cheek saying, "I understand because I've experienced losing you." He scoffed at this and slapped her hand away, shouting, "Do you think that means anything to me? Try experiencing losing your entire clan, maybe then you'd understand! But don't ever think you can TRY to relate to my past!" he finished, jumping forwards to push her down. She frowned at this and caught his arms, throwing him back down to the floor. "You let your guard down." She said lowly, restraining him with her hands. The chakra which flowed throughout her body gave her enough strength to keep him in place.

"Stop trying to act like the world is against you." She whispered, looking away for a moment as she clenched her teeth. "I see so many people die each day…whether it's here in the hospital or on the battlefield. Death is irreversible, there's nothing we can do about it…and seeking revenge will bring neither the dead, nor your own happiness back!" she finished, shouting angrily in his face, "What the hell makes you think that killing others is justifiable? By doing this, you're only throwing your own life away! Why can't you see that?"

By the time she had finished, tears were flowing down from her cheeks. She then gasped when Sasori's face suddenly appeared in her mind.

"_Sasori lost his parents as well…but he waited for so long for them to return…and they never did. It wasn't sudden…but after having so much hope, wishing them to return one day…his hatred grew. Sasuke saw it with his own eyes when it happened to him. They've both lived with such burdens for so long."_

"You know what…you're actually right." She then said aloud, loosening her grip on his arms. He stared at her emotionlessly and slowly sat back up, surprised that she had let him free so suddenly.

"I know nothing about what you've gone through…" He growled lowly at this and stood up, glaring down at her weak form as she simply sat there on her knees.

"All I want is for you to somehow understand that me and Naruto have been through so much…just to bring you back."

"I never wanted you to come back for me. Don't you get it? After leaving the damn forest, I thought I'd be able to deal with this—coming back to Konoha. I thought for a moment…that I'd be able to forget revenge on my brother and try to live with you all again, but now that I'm here…" when he finished, he bent down and brought her face closer to his whispering, "I can't."

She bit her lip and glared at him for saying such a thing, replying back, "That's not what was bothering you before, was it?" He widened his eyes for a split second at that moment, spitting, "Oh? Really? I should have guessed that person like you wouldn't be able tell the difference between being pissed off and annoyed."

"So what was annoying you when I came to take care of you?" she then said back angrily, ignoring the way he glowered down at her.

His fingers twitched at her response, pulling away from her as he scowled.

The wind blew in, making the curtains swish from side to side.

Sakura huffed when he failed to make a comeback, saying lowly, "I suggest you get back into bed. I'll deal with all the nurses— it looks like they're just unconscious."

She then slowly stood up and dusted her outfit, not giving him a second glance, but before she could get over to the first nurse, she suddenly sensed something flying towards her from behind, she spun around and ducked the kunai as it flew past her.

She then jumped upwards when he threw several others towards her, making her realize that he must have taken them from all the nurses' pockets when he knocked them out.

"_Damn him!" _she thought angrily, tearing off her white apron and throwing it to the side as she leapt forwards and aimed a chakra-filled punch at his chest. He just managed to dodge and began forming his chidori in his hands.

"Why are you doing this!" she shouted at him, jumping backwards and standing in a defensive position on the ground. She then noticed a needle lying next to the bed, remembering that it was one of her sleeping doses she had been planning on giving him earlier.

"_If I can just reach it…"_ she thought, clenching her teeth and forming a plan. Sasuke stared at her as they stood several meters away from one another, ready to strike at any moment. The thunder outside was getting louder by the second, making Sakura flinch and turn to look when lightning struck not far from where the hospital was.

At that moment while she was distracted, it was almost too late for her to notice him when he was suddenly looming above her.

She gasped in shock and froze in place when she saw him pause in his attack. His face was mere centimeters away from hers—his face showing a mix of emotions such as confusion, anger…and sadness. He then let his face drain of emotions as he stared into her terrified face.

His chidori was now fading away from his hands. The look in his eyes told her that he had come to finally realize what he was actually doing.

"Sasuke…?" she whispered, staring up at him. He then dropped to the ground and stared at it for a prolonged moment, shivering all over. "I—I'm…sorry." He then whispered after several moments of silence. She couldn't help but feel utterly helpless then, allowing the tears to pour down her face. She then reached forwards towards him and pulled him into a sudden embrace.

His usually passive face held shock that made her heart beat speed up. He then slowly but surely put his arms around her back as well and tightened his grip on her, burying his face in her hair and holding her face close to his. "I'm sorry." He said again, repeating those two words over and over again. The rain outside was pouring hard down, and the thunder became louder with each second. But it wasn't only the weather that had suddenly become enraged…a dark figure standing on the branch of a tree outside of the hospital stared at the scene which had taken place inside the building. The frown on his face turned into a scowl, clenching his fists and turning around as he fled from the area.

The next morning…

_"These two ex-Akatsuki members will be put under surveillance by Naruto and Sai for the next two months. If they pass my test without doing anything suspicious, then you are to list them both as full-fledged shinobi of Konoha and erase any information of them being in the bingo book." She said, then turning to look at the Uchiha as she continued,_

_"And as for the Uchiha, he will be put under surveillance by Sakura for the next four months. He wasn't brought here on his own accord, so he'll be needed to be kept an eye on, more so than the other two, is that clear Sakura?"_

_The pink haired kunoichi then straightened herself saying,_

_"Yes, Hokage-sama."_

Sakura repeated this scene in her mind from when she and the others first returned back to Konoha, standing tall next to Naruto and Sai while Deidara, Sasuke and Sasori stood on the other side of the room.

"As of now, after much interrogation, Deidara you will be escorted to Naruto's household, where you'll be watched over by him for the next 2 months. Sasori, you will be escorted to Sakura's household where she will be watching over you. Due to complications, Sai is being sent on another mission for the next month so he won't be able to assist her and Naruto like we planned. And seeing as the council has doubts about allowing the Uchiha to be watched over by either of you, Sasuke will be remaining here in the Hokage Tower where he will be carefully examined and watched for the next 4 months." She finished with a serious look on her face.

Sakura was surprised with the sudden change in plans but held a determined look as she clenched her fists tightly. After the small incident that had taken place the previous night, she and Sasuke had more or less cleaned up everything and taken all the nurses back to their homes where they would have probably woken up forgetting ever being knocked out. She had also come up with a new suggestion when it came to having Deidara and Sasori on probation, so she decided to wait until today to tell her Master about her thoughts about it.

"_I'm just glad that everything worked out in the end…and now I can finally be around Sasori again." _She then thought, smiling a bit as she glanced back at the red-head. He had his arms folded and was leaning against the wall, not really paying much attention to the Hokage as he stared into nothing.

"_What's with him?"_ she then thought.

"Sakura…Sakura!" the woman then shouted. Sakura gasped at this and straightened her posture saying aloud, "Yes Tsunade Sama!"

Naruto and Deidara chuckled a bit at this, watching the woman fume over the girl. "Is there something bothering you, Sakura?" she then asked her.

Sakura frowned and said,

"No… But I was meaning to ask you about the probation, Tsunade-sama….about whether or not we should instead of watching over the three of them, prepare for a possible attack from Pein and the other Akatsuki. We could work together and go on separate missions to locate the Akatsuki, and afterwards it can be decided whether or not the three should be listed as official Konoha Shinobi."

Everyone stared at her for coming up with such a notion, waiting for the Hokage to reply. "I think not, Sakura. I see you still don't fully understand the point of this. If they were to go on missions with you, it's possible that they would try to escape. And as far as an attack from Pein goes, we've already got shinobi scouting the area for possible tracks of the Akatsuki's whereabouts."

Sakura frowned at this and then said without thinking, "But how can we not trust them when they've already basically revealed everything we need to know about the Akatsuki! Giving us such valid information should surely be enough to win their trust!"

Tsunade then growled and slammed her fist down shouting, "We can't afford to be naive at this point Sakura! Now an order is an order, so do what you're told and stop coming up with these silly notions!"

Sakura's pride was suddenly diminished at that point when she heard her master say that. "Naïve…but…" she muttered, clenching her teeth at that moment. And before she could say anything further, another voice cut in saying,

"I agree with the Hokage. Deidara and I can't be sure whether or not _you_ plan on betraying us if we were to go on missions together, which is why neither of us can afford to be gullible in this type of matter, Haruno."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. She turned her head slowly to meet the brown eyes of her so-called _love_ but met nothing but blankness in his face.

No emotion and no actual care in his expression.

"Sasori?" she muttered in confusion.

"Alright, then it's settled. Now the rest of you can leave while Sai stays here to discuss his new mission with me—along with Sasuke who will now be under my supervision." Tsunade then said with a sigh, also slightly surprised with how cold Sasori was acting towards her student all of her sudden, but she shrugged it off and hoped that everything would go according to plan.

As they all left, Naruto came up to Sakura from behind and quietly asked, "Are you alright, Sakura?" She nodded a bit and quietly took his hand as they walked outside, holding it tightly for a moment for some reassurance. He didn't question her but noticed how confused she seemed to be after the conversation they had had with Tsunade-sama.

He watched her eyes as they bore into Sasori's back, making him frown as he whispered in her ear, "Everything will be alright."

"_Easy for you to say." _She thought, sighing when they reached the tree outside of the tower—this was now the point where they would part and all go their separate ways. Deidara, the slightly childish, cocky and yet artistic clay master staying with Naruto—a loud-mouth, childish blonde who spent most of his days either eating ramen or going out training.

She figured that those two would get along well enough, even though neither of them had really spoken with one another since the 'Forest of Death' incident.

And then there was Sasori, the quiet, usually solitary Puppet Master who hated waiting and was once a merciless killer, having created nearly 200 puppets out of the humans he had killed in the past. And yet, in the last half-year, she had somehow come to communicate with this man whom she was paired up with while being in the Akatsuki. There were doubts at first, but in the end, they both managed to come to realize their feelings for one another and he agreed to come back with her to live the life of a normal shinobi.

But now it seemed as if none of that had actually occurred. He was acting like a complete stranger around her today, not bothering so much as to cast a single glance towards her.

She frowned as she watched Naruto and Deidara leave, both of them shouting back in unison,

"See ya Sakura- chan!"

"See ya, Danna!"

She waved at both of them and smiled as she watched them both walk away, beginning to talk with one another as they carried on down the pathway through town.

She then slowly turned around to see the red head leaning against the tree, not bothering to face her as he looked up to the sky.

She came up to him and stood next to him, deciding not to come too close for the moment. She then turned to look at him, staring at the way his face showed zero emotion again, and his rather bored eyes just looked up straight ahead.

She then cleared her throat and said, "Sasori…" he didn't blink but turned his head slightly to look at her, waiting for her to carry on with whatever she was meaning to say.

"…I don't understand…why are you so…? Did something happen…while I was away yesterday?"

He merely growled lowly, making her jump a bit. He then scoffed and said, "No, nothing at all. I've just been thinking lately…"

She nodded slightly and muttered quietly, "What it is?"

He then turned to look her in the eye, making her widen her own as she stared into his. They were filled with a type of emotion she had never seen in his eyes before, something that immediately sent alarms ringing through her head.

He then closed his eyes for a moment and grinned saying as he looked back down to her,

"I've just been contemplating if your feelings towards me were really genuine."

The way he said it so bluntly made her shiver, letting rage take over as she burst out saying,

"What are you talking about? Are you saying that after all this time, you think I've been lying to you about my own feelings! Did all those times we had together mean nothing to you?"

He then leaned forward and said in a dark tone, "I'm not saying you ever lied to me about your feelings, I merely wanted to find out if they were actually genuine."

"What! Is that what's been bothering you? Then what the hell is it that you want from me to prove that I actually love you?" she shouted, holding her hands into tight fists and glaring at him angrily.

He was slightly taken aback by her sudden outburst but expected no less from her and leaned forward, resting his hand on her cheek and brushing several strands of hairs out of her face. Her expression softened slightly at this and she put her own hand on his, rubbing his fingers gently as she said softly and yet in a firm tone, "What do I have to do to show you?"

He arched an eyebrow slightly and let his thoughts circle through his mind, thinking about how far she was actually willing to go to show him he wasn't merely a toy to her.

He then smirked and cupped her face, leaning down and stroking her neck seductively as he slowly kissed from her neck upwards, soon whispering in her ear,

"If you truly _loved _me, you'd allow me to take you."


	22. Blacking out

LOL, since you guys have been so supportive with your reviews, I decided to be quick and put up a new chapter!

Be WARNED THOUGH: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME MAJOR SAKUXSASO GOODNESS (even though they won't even realize this themselves...you'll see what i mean ;D) 

Thanks again everyone! I really hope the chapter's alright... X)

Chapter 22: Blacking out

Confusion. Hate. Anger...and especially: Betrayal.

That was all that she had been feeling the last few weeks. Who knew that such a strong a relationship could end so suddenly?

She didn't understand how it had happened, but one day they were laughing together, enjoying every moment they spent with one another, and the next day, they were acting like complete strangers. It was like as if the world around her had suddenly become a dark and lonely place again, not having the one she cared for at her side.

There they sat in her living room. Him reading a book on the Third Great Shinobi War, whereas she was sitting about seven meters away from him, writing down notes about new treatments she planned on giving patients in the future . It had become a routine for them every day now. He would sleep in an extra room and go about his usual things such as reading or working on puppets in his room. Whereas she had to keep checking up on him to see if he was still nearby, making sure he didn't do anything such as leave the house unattended. She knew he'd never try to escape or go out alone because he had become so dead-set on following the Hokage's orders, but they rarely spoke now with one another. Each day that went by seemed to make them both drift apart from one another a little more than the previous day.

Ever since that day, they refused to speak to one another.

The scene replayed in her mind over and over again. It was true, there does come a time when two partners decide to take their relationship to a new level…but this? And just to prove that she cared for him? _"None of this makes sense." _She thought, staring at him from across the room.

"_If you truly loved me, you'd allow me to take you."_

Those words just kept repeating in her head. The only thing that she could then ask herself was:

Why?

"_Why, why, why?" _she thought, knotting her brows and biting hard down on her lip.

How could things change so instantly?

Why did he say such a thing?

And why was he acting like a complete stranger towards her?

She then tried calming herself down by putting her hands on the arms of her chair, digging her nails into the material as hard as she could until she could hear the wood crack. _"Why did that have to happen?"_

_After he had said that to her, as they stood there next to the tree, the only thing she could do was stare at him. And then, she pushed him away and brought her hand up to hit him across the face, but stopped her actions and bit her lip. He did nothing as he watched her fight with her inner-emotions. She then lifted her hand up in a fist and hit the tree from the side instead, not caring if it tumbled down._

_She then turned away and stared at the ground saying in a low tone, "I never thought you could ever be this kind of a person…I don't understand why you're acting like this, but if I ever did something to hurt you…please, tell me."_

_She then turned to face him with tears running down her face. He still said nothing, merely staring at her defeated looking demeanor. He then huffed and closed his eyes saying, "It doesn't matter. I understand if you're not willing, I merely wanted to see if I actually meant anything to you." He finished with a scowl._

_She widened her eyes and said back with bared teeth, "You're really are…the biggest asshole I've ever come to fall for." He simply chuckled a bit and said back in a deathly tone, "Meaning, that there happens to be someone else that you have fallen for again. As I thought."_

_She then arched an eyebrow and stared at him as if he had gone completely mad. "What are you talking about?" she whispered._

"_I'm talking about the Uchiha. Things looked like they were getting rather…'heated' during that small fight you had with him last night. I figured you'd resist once he'd started toying with you, but you didn't. In fact, it looked like you were openly allowing him to make moves." He said while growling lowly in the back of his throat._

_All she could do was stare at him after he said that._

_He was there, watching her and Sasuke last night. How and why he had escaped the Hokage Tower was a mystery to her, but more importantly, he really seemed to get the impression that there was something between her and the Uchiha._

"_H—how can you say such a thing?" she said, shaking all over. "What makes you think that I care about him in such a way?"_

"_The way that you speak about him. The way that you look at him. And especially, the way that you embrace him. It's as if I've suddenly come to be out of your reach because of him…although it's quite understandable. You were both once teammates, and from what I hear, you used to be head over heels for him at the time, and yet…you never had the decency to tell me about all of this." He finished, raking his fingers through his fire-red hair while clenching his teeth._

"_I don't believe this…how can you think that? I love YOU and you alone, you jerk!" she then shouted, taking a step forward with her fists clenched._

_He then openly laughed out loud at this saying with widened cynical eyes, "What lies! After all this, and yet you refuse to take our relationship up the next level! So basically, your love isn't actually real, is it?"_

"_You should be considerate and understand that I'm not ready for that kind of a step yet! And when it comes to Sasuke, you can go ask him yourself, there's absolutely nothing between us! There never was! We were once teammates, yes. I had a crush on him when we were younger, yes. But that was then, and this is NOW." She said angrily, breathing in and taking a moment to just catch her breath as she then said, "And what about you Akasuna no Sasori? Are your feelings for me…actually genuine?"_

_He stared at her for a moment then and let all his anger fade away as he then said in a sad tone while looking down, "You're…the first person I've ever come to…love. You never left my side. You never hid things from me. And you were never…" he then trailed off clenching his teeth as he suddenly threw his hands in the air shouting, "Why? Why did you betray me?" She took a step back and then screamed back at him, "I never betrayed you! You're just trying to come up with an excuse to be angry with me! Admit it! You actually hate me, don't you?"_

_Both of them glared at one another with hatred flashing in their eyes, inching to attack one another. "If you're too scared for the next 'step' then there's no trust in our relationship." He said._

"_If you continue to suspect me of having fallen in love with Sasuke, then there is ZERO trust. Which means: We have no relationship." Sakura then said back with a cold look, both of them agreeing to this through their blank faces._

_They remained like that for several seconds before Sasori then turned and said, "Then that's that…now let's just go." He finished, waiting for her to go ahead and lead the way to her house. She said nothing after this and simply walked ahead, both of them walking a distance away from one another. There was nothing more that needed to be said._

_It was over._

She had never expected it to turn out the way it did. Every time that they had ever fought…they always made up in the end. But now, it really seemed like there was nothing between them anymore. She then abruptly stood up from her chair, not being able to stand the tension that drifted between them in the living room.

Sasori barely looked up from his book, ignoring how she slammed the door when she left the room. He then put his book to the side and rested his arms on his legs, sighing as he looked down, putting his hands over his face as he regretted everything that had happened. It was always those little things that set him off, making him start a fight with her each time…but this time, he had caught her red-handed with the Uchiha. It was obvious that the raven-haired man actually held feelings for her, and the way that she acted towards the Uchiha…

What if she and the Uchiha had been planning this from the start? From the moment that she allowed Sasuke to capture her from the Akatsuki…to the moment that they returned to Konoha…?

"Those two…" he muttered, throwing his fist hard down on the arm of the chair he sat in.

The next morning…

"Ermm…Sakura chan?" Naruto asked as she stared down at the ground, rather than ate the ramen in front of her. He arched an eyebrow at her strange mood and frowned back at Deidara who was gulping down several other bowls.

"Aaahhh…I'll admit it, you Konoha shinobi know how to cook, yeah!" The blond missing nin said out loud, sighing in content as he leaned back. He then cocked an eyebrow when Naruto tapped his shoulder and pointed towards Sakura who looked like an emotionless doll as she sat there beside them. Deidara furrowed his eyebrows and came up to her then, bending down on his knees as he stared her in the eye.

"What the hell happened, yeah?" She said nothing and turned around, leaning her hand on her chin as she muttered, "Nothing." Deidara then stood back up and scratched his chin saying, "You know…I haven't seen Danna and you together in a while…everything all right?"

She said nothing again and merely lifted her clenched fist up, bringing it down hard onto the wooden table in front of them. It cracked in several places, making Naruto and Deidara gulp as they backed away from her for a moment. She then brought her hand back down as she lay her head on it, mumbling sarcastically, "What the hell do you think?"

"…Sakura….what happened?" Naruto then asked, boldly coming closer towards her as he leaned down to see her face. She growled at this and buried her face in her arms, clenching her teeth as she said in a completely muffled voice, "…Eetinksmlveithsuke."

Both Naruto and Deidara then arched their eyebrows and they both came closer to her face as they put their hands to their ears saying, "WHAT?"

She growled again and mumbled, "Isedheetinksmilvewitsaske!"

"WHAT?" they both said again, coming even closer to her.

She then whipped her head upwards slamming her fists on the table again as she shouted, "HE THINKS I'M IN LOVE WITH SASUKE YOU IDIOTS!"

They jumped backwards at the sudden outburst and both fell backwards, trembling with fear but staring at her in utter disbelief.

"WHAAAT!" they then shouted.

"Don't make me repeat myself!" she growled at them both, beginning to storm out of Ichiraku's until she felt a hand grab her arm, pulling her backwards as she was turned to face two steaming blond-haired men.

"What the hell!" Naruto then said angrily, continuing as he then said, "How the hell did this happen?"

"Yeah! Since when does my Danna even get jealous? He's always so high and mighty, ignoring others like dirt no matter how powerful or talented…or beautiful their art actually may…be…" when Deidara finished, he soon ended up in his own little corner of depression at his own statement. "Why does he hate my art so much?" he whined, forgetting that it was Sakura who should be the one with relationship problems right now…

"…" Naruto stared at the man and shook his head, turning back to Sakura as he asked, "So when did this happen Sakura? And why didn't you ever tell me this before?"

She frowned and looked around to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped.

"Well…it was the night before Deidara and Sasori were sent to be watched over by us…and you see, I went back to the hospital, and that's when I found out that…" she then sighed and carried on, explaining everything that happened between her and Sasuke, adding that she believed Sasori had somehow managed to escape his confinement that night for some reason, and later on saw what she and Sasuke were doing in the hospital room. She then told them about their fight the next day, after Deidara and he had left her and Sasori alone by the old tree.

Deidara was now sitting down as he and Naruto listened to what she said, staring at her wide-eyed until the very end. "…so ever since then…these past few weeks have been so…" she then bit her lip and muffled the last word saying, "…lifeless."

"I just…don't know what to do anymore." She then finished, staring down at her hands as they shook slightly.

"Sakura…" Naruto said sadly while looking down.

Deidara merely held his wide-eyed stare and after several seconds he let out everything by shouting out,

"My Danna _finally _has the none-wooden balls to get a girl and he does this? Damn him! He always does this! Getting angry over little things and throwing a fit over them! That non-artistic Baka…"

Sakura said nothing at this and strained not to let her emotions take over again. "I—I just don't know what to do…the only way that he said he'd believe me would be if we…" she then trailed off and shook her head, swearing under her breath.

"And he's a fucking pervert!" Deidara then added with his fist clenched, glaring at an imaginary image of his Danna. Naruto swallowed and shook his own head saying, "I can't believe he'd say such things to you…I swear…I'll kill him for hurting you!" he finished.

She said nothing at this and sighed, relieved that she had finally told someone about her dilemma.

"But the thing is…I think I might have really hurt him as well." She then said with a sigh. Naruto and Deidara both stared at her with uncertainly after she said this, waiting for her to continue.

"I mean…after lying to him when I was on that mission…and after lying to him about Sasuke…I actually…" she then closed her eyes tightly, biting her lip when she thought back to what happened between her and Sasuke. "…the problem is…I don't know if my feelings for Sasuke…have actually…gone away completely."

She then hit her own head with her fist angrily, trying to prevent herself from letting any tears loose. The two young men simply watched her, both surprised with her sudden statement. Naruto then frowned saying in a low tone, "Sakura…you don't still…_love_ him…do you?"

She shook her head and wiped her face, staring down to her open hands as she said back, "I don't know Naruto…I just know that these feelings I had for him, when he left us all those years ago…I don't know if they'll ever go away."

"_I've really betrayed Sasori. He was right…about everything. I'm an utter liar."_

Meanwhile…

Sasori stared at the wall in front of him, sitting on the ground and remaining there for a rather long time.

He needed to clear his mind and think things through…

"_What should I do? Should I try to win her back…should I simply apologize like the last times? Or should I…" _he then trailed off and sighed as he ruffled his bright red hair. _"No no no! Never! I could never do that…not to her…the only thing I can do is…wait…ugh…"_

He then scowled and stood up saying aloud, "But I hate waiting…" he then walked out of his bedroom and walked around her house, looking at all the photos on the dresser in her living room. He then stopped to stare at a single photo of herself and Naruto, Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi, all standing together in a group photo. He then widened his eyes and picked it up, trembling slightly as he bit down on his lip.

"All these friends she's had…and still has. I truly envy her…"

He then growled and threw the picture to the ground, allowing it to crack all the way down the half. He then removed his cloak and threw it down to the floor, going back to his room to grab the pair of jeans and t-shirt he had received to look _normal_ if he ever went out.

He put them both on and then went out of the door, looking around to see if Sakura and her friends were anywhere nearby. He then jumped down from the porch and swiftly jumped up into a tree, allowing this to guide him as he jumped from building to building until he reached the center of the village. He looked down from one of the buildings and watched everyone down there, observing them carefully as he ignored the strong wind which began blowing against him. He then jumped down and landed gracefully on his feet in the middle of the street. Several people stared at him after his landing, watching the stranger as he casually put his hands in his pockets and walked around without a care in the world.

"_I need to find one of those 'drinking bars' Brat was telling me about…I believe he said that he was able to forget all his problems after going to them and having several drinks…"_ he thought, ignoring the stares that all the women around were throwing at him. He scoffed at this and closed his eyes, opening them when he noticed there was a bar up ahead. He came up to the door and pushed it open, arching an eyebrow when he saw all of the men dressed in strange attire and acting like morons as they all played pool and had fights in each corner of the bar. He then sighed and mentally calmed down thinking, _"It's only for a drink…that's all…this will be nothing I won't be able to handle…"_

He then calmly walked down the aisle and ducked every now and then when a bottle was thrown past him in the air. He furrowed his brows when he finally got to the counter and sat on a strange red 'spinning' chair as he called it, tapping his one hand on the counter and resting his chin on his other while he sat there. After several seconds, a bartender then came by and asked,

"Heh, haven't seen you before, you a tourist?" Sasori's eye twitched at this as he said in a cold tone of voice,

"I think I've had enough interrogation for the past 3 weeks. Who I am is none of your concern."

The older man stared at the red-head for a moment before bursting with laughter and saying,

"Heh, talk about attitude, are you one of them Cloud fellows?" Sasori then growled and said back in an irritated tone, "Like I said, it's none of your concern, now shouldn't you be taking my order?"

The man then arched an eyebrow and let a grin show on his face as he replied, "Haha, sure kid. What would you like?"

"Anything strong."

The bartender widened his eyes a bit at this and said back, "All right, but I warn ya kid, a glass of this and you'll be completely out of it."

"I don't care, just give me a damn drink." He spat.

The man then nodded as he turned around and prepared a strong alcoholic drink for the younger customer. Sasori looked around him as he waited, rolling his eyes at all the people as they laughed out loud and drank like pigs.

"Here ya go." He heard the man say as he placed a tall glass in front of Sasori, filled to the brim with a yellow bubbly liquid. Sasori said nothing as he stared at it, slowly picking it up and placing it to his lips as he tasted some of it. He then strained to cough it all out after trying it, holding a disgusted look on his face as he glared at the glass.

He then took a moment to think about what he was doing until the fight between him and Sakura replayed through his mind. He then looked back down to the drink and clenched his teeth, forcing it down his throat until the glass was empty. He heaved a heavy sigh when he finished and hiccupped a bit after that, shaking his head after the sudden intake of the liquid.

"_I still don't feel any different…"_ he mumbled. After several minutes he then turned back to the bartender and said,

"Give me another."

5 hours of dizziness and confusion later…

"Look at all the bright lights…they're sooo…colourful…" Sasori mumbled out loud as he walked down the street. His eyes were wide open and his body felt completely…light for some reason.

He stared up at the lights on the buildings, mesmerized by the dots and circles that were littering the sky around him. He wasn't sure if he was just seeing things due to the 5 glasses of strong alcohol he had had, but he didn't really care anymore. This was the first time that he had every experienced being…drunk, after all.

But he actually didn't mind it…he felt like as if all his problems were meaningless and was actually enjoying the way his mind had become blurry. He then gasped and laughed out loud, chuckling until tears fell down from his face as he pointed at a tree saying,

"You baka! What makes you think you'll ever have a chance with my Sakura! Stupid Uchiha…!" he finished, angrily kicking a stone at the poor tree while picking up several others and throwing them at it.

"You'll…never…have her! She's…mine!" he then finished shouting in a childish tone, turning around and walking down the path again. After a few minutes, he ended up back in front of Sakura's house.

His half lidded eyes stared at her front door and he soon grinned, wobbling a bit as he walked up the steps of the porch. It was rather dark outside already, and he knew she'd already be home. He then let a grin come over his face as he stepped into the house. He didn't bother closing it and stumbled through the room, turning into the hallway as he walked towards Sakura's room. He then slowly opened her door and without thinking (which he clearly hadn't been doing since he left the bar) entered and closed the door behind her, staring at the small figure which lay in the bed.

She was wearing plain pink pajamas and had her arms and legs were spread out across the bed as she lay on her side. He came up to her and then sat down slowly onto the bed, throwing his shoes off as he climbed into the bed slowly, still going unnoticed by the kunoichi.

He then slowly scooted closer to her and rested his hands on her hips, wrapping his legs around her own. She made a sound and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep, not bothering to wake herself up when she felt a large strange object entangling itself around her.

"You don't belong to anyone but me." Sasori whispered groggily with a grin on his face. He then pulled her face closer towards him and pressed his lips against hers, waiting for her to somehow do the same.

"_What the hell is this…?"_ Sakura thought, slowly opening her eyes when she felt something touch her lips softly. She was slightly surprised when she saw Sasori doing this to her but was still half asleep, being unable to comprehend whether or not this was indeed a dream.

"_Great…I'm having that dream again." _She thought dazedly. Her inner-Sakura then butted in and shouted, "Who cares! You might as well enjoy it while it lasts! Not like you'll ever be doing this sorta thing with Sasori again."

Sakura then nodded at this and responded as Sasori licked her lips, hoping to gain entrance. She complied and opened her mouth, allowing him to explore her mouth and play with her tongue as he inwardly grinned. She couldn't help but notice the taste in his mouth was bitter like that of a VERY strong drink, but she shrugged it off and let him continue kissing her. They continued like that for a while, until Sasori then moved to kiss her down her neck, biting and nipping her skin as he left several marks on her. She moaned at this and held her hands on his head, arching slightly as he came to her pajama shirt, slowly undoing the buttons one by one.

She then unconsciously whispered in her half-asleep daze, "I'm sorry." He then dizzily lifted his head back up to look her in the eye saying, "You're mine, and that's final Sakura, understood?" She said nothing back and simply watched as he then moved back down, removing her shirt from her upper body and throwing it to the side. She then reached forwards and pulled his white shirt off of him as they both began kissing roughly again. He then came on top of her and kissed her chest gently, still not realizing what he was actually doing. "Where were you today?" Sakura then asked sleepily. He said nothing for a while and soon said in a cheerful tone, "I was throwing stones at the stupid Uchiha outside."

She arched an eyebrow at this and then thought,

"_Okay…this is definitely dream…eh, who cares."_


	23. Simply unbelievable

**Another chapter...HELL YEAH! ;D Wooohooo!**

**This was a SERIOUSLY difficult chapter to write! Geez, hope it's fine though...**

**Anyways, I also wanted to ask you guys personally if YOU think i should DEFINITELY have a Lemon chapter in this story? **

**I'm still not sure if I want to cause I've NEVER written that sort of thing before, but I mean come on, I'm almost 17! LOL**

**So I might as well...haha, but I just wanted to ask...**

***confused and needs guidance from you all* hahaha**

**Well, thank you! ****and once again, thanks for all the wonderrrrful reviews! XD**

Chapter 23: Simply unbelievable

Everything was a daze for Sakura when she slowly opened her eyes, closing them shut again when the sunlight that seeped through her window blinded her for a mere second. She then sighed and slowly opened them again, shifting her head a bit as she lay there. "Urrgh…" she mumbled, trying to stretch her legs when she felt something warm against her skin.

"Wait a minute…" she thought, cocking an eyebrow as she lazily tried pushing the strange heavy object away from her. She then arched both eyebrows when she felt it move closer towards her. She then opened her eyes fully and rubbed them with the back of her hand, slowly turning over her side to take a look at what lay in her bed. But before she did so, she couldn't help but pause when her body felt a draft that was coming in.

"_Okay, what the hell happened to my clothes!"_ she thought, widening her eyes when she looked down to see that she was wearing absolutely nothing. She then shrieked and pulled her blanket closer to her body, wrapping herself around it and looking over the side of the bed to see her clothes spread out across the floor of the room. She furrowed her brows in utter confusion and suddenly clenched her teeth when she felt pain throbbing from her neck and between her legs for some reason...

"_What the hell?" _she screamed inwardly at this, soon turning her head around slowly when she felt the bed move again. Her body froze in place as she stared at the other side of the bed.

There, lying with his back facing her while snoring soundly lay….Akasuna no Sasori…

_in her bed_…_next to HER_…_without any clothes on_…

Several minutes went by as she stared at him.

Meanwhile…

"SAKURAAAA-CHAN! It's us, Naruto and Deidara!" The hyper blond called out loud.

"We've got the whole day planned out for the four of us, yeah!" Deidara shouted as well, both of them winking at each other and chuckling. They had both secretly plotted and planned the entire day in a way that it would be possible for Sasori and Sakura to spend time with one another, but with their own special schemes added to it. Naruto and Deidara each had goal involving this as they discussed it the previous evening…

"_I just want Danna to __do it__ with her so that I stick another camera in their room, yeah!" Deidara chuckled, laughing evilly as he molded something in his hands. Naruto scratched the back of his head and said back, "Ehm…I was kinda thinking it would be nice for them to get together again…maybe then she'll be able to completely forget about Teme."_

"_Teme? You mean the Uchiha?"_

"_Yeah, but we have to come up with a plan if we want both of our goals to be achieved!" Naruto then said with a grin, throwing his fist into the air. Deidara stared at him for a moment and smirked saying, "Heh, alright kid. I'm in if you're in, yeah." They then both shook hands and began scheming, coming up with the perfect day out for the two of them._

But standing around and waiting for either of the two to come out wasn't exactly part of the plan. After several more minutes they then both got frustrated and began banging on the door, surprised when it automatically opened. They looked at each other for a moment and shrugged, walking in slowly as they tried looking for the two. "Are they even home?" Naruto asked himself, confused with how quiet it was. Deidara stepped into the kitchen and picked up an apple from the bowl on the table, taking a large bite out of it as he watched Naruto come in as well. "You should really try some of these, yeah. They're pretty—"

"!"

The scream was so piercing it nearly broke both of the men's hearing as Deidara soon began choking on the apple. They then both immediately ran out of the kitchen, going into every room until they heard a very loud thump come from Sakura's room. They both tip-toed down and quietly stood on either side of the door that lead to Sakura's room, ready to jump in with kunais in their hands.

After two seconds, Naruto nodded and they broke through the door, making it bash against the wall.

"Sakura! What happened? Are you—" Naruto shouted, pausing as he stared at the scene. Both of the men's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates when they saw what was going on.

There on the floor against the bed was a naked, half-sitting up Sasori who seemed to rubbing his head and moaning in pain, whereas Sakura was wrapped up in her blanket, sitting on the other edge of the bed and shaking all over from shock.

She then turned to look at the other two men, soon screaming again as she shouted,

"Naruto! Deidara! Was this another one of your sick little pranks!"

They both backed away and turned to one another with confused expressions.

"Did you do this?" Naruto whispered to Deidara angrily.

Deidara scoffed and said back angrily, "No, you idiot! We already agreed with our plan of getting them together, yeah! Why the hell would I do something like this?"

"Cause you were so desperate to film them in their room again!" Naruto then shouted back.

They both growled at eachother with clenched fists, suddenly attacking one another and rolling out of the room for a moment.

"You damn liar and traitor!"

"Shut up kid! You think I had the time to do this sorta thing, yeah? I was with you the whole time last night!"

"Yeah, but then how the hell did this happen?"

"Well if neither of us did this then…isn't this actually supposed to be a good thing?" Deidara said in a quieter tone so that Sakura wouldn't be able to hear.

"No! Well—I don't know!"

Sakura's eye twitched and she growled lowly while shouting, "Both of you…shut the hell up and get back here!"

Their fighting then immediately stopped as they soon appeared back in the doorway of her room. She arched an eyebrow at this and then looked back down to Sasori, whom she had kicked rather hard over the bed after finding him next to her.

He was now trying to stand up, but continued to rub his head and wobbled as he walked, trying to get past the other two men who held completely puzzled looks on their faces.

"Danna?" Deidara asked while putting his hands on Sasori's shoulders. His eyes were slightly red and baggy, along with a pale face holding signs of utter exhaustion.

He looked completely out of it.

Deidara had never seen his Sempai look so…_hung over_.

Sasori merely stared into space as Deidara and Naruto came closer towards his face, staring at him intently. Sakura arched an eyebrow at the men and stood up while almost tripping over the blanket she was still wrapped in.

"Is there something wrong with him?" she asked, coming a bit closer. Deidara then opened Sasori's mouth and gasped when an intoxicating smell met his nose. He then regretfully turned to look at her, gulping as he said, "He's completely stoned."

Sakura blinked several times before his words finally sunk in.

"What?" she then asked in confusion.

Deidara then scratched the back of his head, catching Sasori who nearly sunk to the ground while stuttering, "H—he must have been out drinking last night or something…there isn't really any other explanation…and trust me, I know when a person's drunk, yeah."

"I don't get it though, why the hell would he do such a thing?" Naruto then asked.

Sakura could only widen her eyes as she muttered, "W—what? He's having a hangover? B—but…" Deidara then interrupted her saying, "Let's first get him to his room before we figure out what exactly happened last night, yeah. He can barely stand in his condition." Naruto and Deidara then both picked up Sasori and carried him away carefully, leaving Sakura to ponder to herself in her own room.

There was only one single question seemed to be repeating itself in her mind:

"_Then what the hell was he doing in my bed?"_

Meanwhile…

"Tsunade-sama, our spies seem to have located the Akatsuki's new whereabouts, but their leader Pein is nowhere to be found!" Shizune said, flipping through the report given to her about the situation. She then passed it over to Tsunade who merely furrowed her brows saying, "Why would the leader not be in the presence of his organization at such a time? Has he already made his move?"

"We're not sure, but from the information we've gathered, it's clear that all the remaining Akatsuki members are still around the area in which they've been located. Them being: Itachi, Kisame, Hidan and Kakuzu. It's also been reported that Itachi and Kisame have slowly begun to move in the direction of the Hidden Leaf. It's not clear whether or not the two are heading directly towards us, but we'll have to decide whether or not we want the ANBU to head in and follow them in case they are heading here." She finished, looking back up and waiting for Tsunade to give her orders.

The older woman rested her chin on her hands and sighed, saying, "It may just be a decoy…but we can't take any risks!" She then stood up and said, "I want you to reply back telling them that they mustn't lose sight of those 4 Akatsuki members, and I want a full report when they get back!"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

* * *

"How you feeling, Danna?"

"Like as if I banged my head into the wall several hundred times while doing a backflip and somersaulted out of a fucking pit while singing 'It's my life'."

"…"

"…"

"What the hell do you think, Brat!" He then shouted angrily at the cowering blond, twitching when he felt pain return to the back of his head.

"Heh, take it easy Danna. I'm just trying to help, I mean, when I gave you that tip about going to a bar, I didn't mean drink 5 BIG glasses of alcohol, damn it! What the hell were you thinking, yeah?" Deidara said back in an irritated tone as he sat back on the bed with his arms folded.

Sasori kept on holding the ice pack to his head, groaning in pain and frustration. There were times like these where he wished he could still be a puppet, not being able to feel anything at all. And although he had gotten used to this new body, he still got frustrated with the fact that he was so vulnerable now.

But the main thing that he was worried about was what had exactly happened after he had left the bar…he vaguely remembered throwing stones at the Uchiha, although he must have been hallucinating at the time, seeing as Sasuke was under watch at the Hokage Tower.

"_But still…I remember enjoying that hallucination…" _He thought with a smirk, going unnoticed by Deidara.

"Whatcha thinking Danna?"

"…"

"Come on…you can tell me, yeah…" Deidara said with a sly grin while leaning forwards. Sasori shuddered at this and twitched his fingers, releasing a chakra string on the lamp and throwing it forwards towards the blonde's head. Deidara screeched at this and ducked low, just missing the hit. "Well there's no need to get hasty, yeah!" He growled, sitting up properly again. Sasori frowned in disappointment at this and lay back again, staring at the wall before something crossed his mind…

"Brat…?"

"Yeah?"

"…why was I in Sakura's room this morning?"

"…"

"…"

"Are you going to answer me?" Sasori asked impatiently after no answer.

Deidara pulled at his collar and cleared his throat saying, "Ehm, it's kinda stuffy in here, don't you think?" He then faked a smile and ran out shouting, "I'm just gonna go out and get some fresh air!" Sasori growled at this and held a hand up, shooting chakra strings towards his newly made puppet and sending it flying out of the door and down the hallway.

He waited for a few seconds before grinning slightly when Deidara was thrown back into the room screaming, "Damn it Danna! Can't you just let it go, yeah?"

"No. Now answer my question."

Deidara frowned and slowly stood up again, scratching the back of his head as he said, "Listen…I wasn't there, so I can't say what really happened…but…"

"But?"

"I have my own theory…"

"Please share it with the class."

Deidara then walked around in circles while scratching his chin and saying while Sasori listened intently:

"Okay…my theory is that you were so pissed off and tired of fighting with Sakura that you took the advice I gave you several months ago and decided to go out looking around until you finally came across a bar…of course, without asking her this first." Sasori nodded slightly at this, turning to look away for a moment.

"…and after having several drinks, you obviously became drunk. Thereafter, you left the bar in that state but somehow managed to navigate your way back to Sakura's house. You entered and left the door open, which explains why me and Hyper-boy found it open this morning. Anyways, you then came inside and probably let yourself into Sakura's room, but not by accident I'm guessing…"

"And why would I do that?"

"I don't know, you tell me, yeah! Maybe it was your 'inner-pervert' coming out, yeah.."

"Right…wait, what the hell did you just call me?"

"Anyway, so you came into her room and climbed into her bed. And afterwards…you both ended up…"

"…yes…?"

Deidara then swallowed and uttered, "You both ended up…erm..um…how do I put this, yeah…?"

"Spit it out Brat!"

"You both ended up STARK naked, yeah! Is that good enough for you?"

Sasori merely blinked and stared at the man as if he were crazy, soon asking, "How could that have happened?"

Deidara then rolled his eyes and looked back at him saying,

"You can be so naïve sometimes Danna…what the hell do you think people do when they're naked…in a bed… ALOOOONE?" he dragged the last word and cocked an eyebrow at Sasori who continued to stare at him confusion.

Several moments went by, and soon enough, that moment became the first time that Deidara ever seen his Danna turn completely red in the face.

Sasori's eyes were completely widened when this realization hit him, along with his mouth hanging open slightly while trying to understand what this meant.

"WHAT THE HELL!" he then shouted.

"Yeah…I think that's what Sakura said when she woke up…yeah."

But before Deidara could begin to start laughing at Sasori's expression, he was suddenly met with hands gripping themselves around his neck. He choked out a cry and screamed when he was lifted slowly into the air.

"R—relax! I was only kidding Danna! _But seriously_…"

"You find this kind of a situation humorous!" You stupid insignificant little…ARGHHH!" He then said, letting go of the blonde's neck and raking his hands through his red hair.

"If what me and Sakura did last night actually happened…then…then…" He then shook slightly and let out another frustrated cry while going down to his knees.

"H—hey, calm down Danna! If Sakura was surprised to find you in her bed, then that means she never remembered anything last night! And since she wasn't the 'drunk one', then maybe she really was asleep the entire time, and you just decided to take off her clothes as well…and…erm…I—I'm not making this any better, yeah… am I?"

Sasori then flashed a cold glare at the man and shouted, "Get out of my sight, Brat!"

Deidara then screeched and ran out of the room before Sasori could throw any more lamps at his head, breathing heavily as he leaned his back against the door. He then sighed and regained his composure, deciding to go see if Naruto managed to find out Sakura's side of the story about last night. As he came to her door, holding out his hand to knock, he couldn't help but put his head to the it, cringing when he heard Sakura's voice cry out, "You're not helping Naruto, you baka!"

"B—but Sakura-chan, what else am I supposed to say?"

"NOTHING!"

Deidara then gulped and knocked on the door, flinching when the kunoichi flung the door open shouting, "WHAT?"

He stared at her for a moment before asking, "Umm…can I talk to you for a bit, yeah?" Naruto waved at him from behind her, holding an exhausted smile on his face.

She then sighed and let him in saying, "Sorry Deidara, I didn't mean to shout at you…" He then smirked and said, "It's alright, I can kinda understand that you'd be a little stressed…yeah."

He then came in and sat himself down on the bed next to Naruto.

"So what do you remember …from last night?" He then asked after a while, curious to hear about what she had to say. She closed the door behind her and nervously sat herself down on a chair, fiddling with her fingers.

"I…erm…well, it's kinda embarrassing…"

"Trust me, after seeing Danna react to all of this, nothing can be more embarrassing for a person, yeah…" Deidara chuckled. She frowned slightly at his words and then sighed, saying in a soft tone, "Well I had a…a dream last night…only to find out it wasn't a dream after all…"

Naruto and Deidara stared at her for a long moment before they both stuttered, "W-WHAT? You mean you…"

"Yes."

"And he…?"

She nodded again at this, clenching her teeth and looking down as she said, "Yes Yes Yes! I remember that I was half asleep, but I still thought it had been a dream even though it felt so real…"

"IT…felt so real?" Deidara choked. She growled at him and then shouted, "Not _THAT_! I mean the dream itself, you baka!"

"Oh. Carry on." He managed to stifle with a sheepish grin.

"Right…well…that's basically it. Neither of us was _actually_ aware of it…but I—I..." She finished, looking to the side and pulling down on her Kunoichi skirt.

"I think we actually…did_ it._"

"My Danna…" Deidara then said, wiping an invisible tear from his eye as he finished saying,

"…finally got laid!"

Sakura then angrily jumped forwards and landed on him while holding his neck in her one hand and holding a fist in the air as she shouted,

"You asshole! How can you say such a thing when a woman is looking for some kind of comfort in this sort of situation?"

He choked at this and uttered out, "Okay, this is j—just Déjà vu…" he finished, regretting that he had said another stupid comment, causing two of his so-called comrades to attack him with the intent to kill. She arched an eyebrow at what he said and growled again shouting, "This was actually your fault, wasn't it? You're the one who told Sasori to go out to a bar and get himself drunk!"

"T—two months ago…y—yeah…" he choked out.

"Calm down Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, trying to pull her back.

"It doesn't matter when!" she then shouted at Deidara, bringing her fist down to his face only to be met with a sticky and muddy material.

"You seriously need to calm down…yeah." Deidara said from behind her, leaning against the wall. She whipped her head back and was about to go for him again but froze in place, suddenly feeling a throbbing pain coming from between her thighs. She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, grimacing in pain as she sat back up properly. The two men came closer to see if she was alright but stopped when she said, "I—I'm fine. It just hurts…I can't deal with this now, I just need to rest a bit today." She finished with a dissatisfied sigh.

"Why did this have to happen…?" she then muttered to herself, putting her hands on her face as she bent down. Deidara and Naruto both looked at each other and then came towards her, putting their hands on her shoulders. "Sakura-chan, it's not the end of the world. This was nobody's fault." Naruto said in a comforting tone.

"Yeah, besides, Danna's completely ashamed with himself right now, yeah. I think he's having a harder time taking everything in this than you." Deidara said, ruffling her hair as he finished saying,

"And anyway, I'm actually glad he did it with you first…he deserves a good person like you as a companion…even if you two get into fights every now and then…" Sakura couldn't help but smile a bit at this and after a few moments she pulled the two into an embrace while whispering thank you to them both. The two blondes then pulled away and scratched the back of their heads with grins on their faces.

"Well, I'm gonna go check up on Danna again, I'm guessing he's still throwing a fit, yeah."

The three were then suddenly interrupted when Shikamaru appeared in front of Sakura's window, knocking on it as he said loudly, "Sakura! The Hidden Leaf has been infiltrated! The Hokage says that you are to keep an eye on Sasori, Deidara and Sasuke until everything's sorted out!"

He then ran off after that, leaving them to stare at the window. "W—we've been infiltrated?" Sakura muttered.

"Akatsuki…" Naruto muttered with clenched fists. "That's it, I have to go!" he then said, running out and shouting back to Sakura, "I'll go bring Sasuke here for you so that you four can keep low. After that, I'm going to speak to Granny Tsunade about what's going on!"

"A—alright, thanks Naruto, we'll be waiting!" she shouted back, shaking slightly at the news they had received. "This isn't good…" she muttered.

"Well this sucks…now I'm stuck here to watch all the action take place…" Deidara mumbled furiously, sympathizing with himself until he noticed Sakura had begun staring off into space, holding a petrified look on her face.

He came forward and waved his hand in front of her face, arching an eyebrow as he said, "Hellloooooo…? Anybody there?"

"I just realized…" Sakura then said in a strangely fearful voice, making the man cock his head as he bent down and asked, "What is it, yeah?"

She swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment saying in a slower tone,

"I…I might actually be pregnant."

"_One."_ She then thought. _"Two….three."_

Deidara then automatically flew backwards, banging the back of his head against the wall while sliding to the ground and muttering,

"W—what...THE HELL!"


End file.
